Courier's Choice
by Starsa83
Summary: Ella, the Courier has a choice, Caesar's men have caught up with her, after she abandoned the work he had set out for her, and now he's pissed. When she is finally captured and brought before him, he shows his hand. She gives up her freedom in exchange for the lives of her friends. Now, as Caesar's personal slave, she must work for him to help take the Mojave. (2 endings)
1. Chapter 1

So this was it, Caesar had her by the balls – or rather he would have had her by the balls if she had any. Her friends who had also been her companions were all there, bound hands and feet, although Lilly was chained as well with six strong legionaries holding her.

Boone looked like he was ready to explode into a First Recon Sniper mushroom cloud of doom; she knew how much he hated the Legion, and it was her fault now that they had him.

Cass just looked grim and hung over, the rosy cheeks showing that they'd caught her while she was in her shot glass. Veronica kept her head down, and lest they really know she was Brotherhood or she'd be in some real trouble.

Raul was silent, he was used to being a captive of Tabitha, having only gained his freedom in the last few weeks, and she knew his thoughts were with his sister, Rafaela. He obviously didn't expect to live through this, despite his positive opinion of their captors.

Arcade looked concerned, but calm. It seemed that nothing short of another nuclear war or a bad breakup with a nice guy could worry the guy. And Lilly, Lilly just stood there, the hulking bulk of Nightkin breathing heavily, which was natural for her. She was placid for a soldier from the master's army, who suffered from Schizophrenia. She had been taking her medicine in half doses, as the Courier had recommended while Dr Henry searched for the cure. The only two missing were Rex and ED-E.

The Legion squad had caught Ella sleeping at the El Dorado gas station, Boone was keeping watch but they caught him off guard with a flash-bang grenade. They had both been rendered senseless from the noise and bright flash of the stun grenades. They had their hands bound and sacks were thrown over their heads.

She dimly remembered struggling against them and being struck, she heard Boone fighting them as well, but heard a thud as they knocked him out.

"Boone!" she had cried and She pushed against her captors trying to get to his side, she was treated to the same bump on the head and blessed darkness.

When Ella came to, she was still covered, but felt the ground moving under her, she was being carried roughly, her feet dragging upon the ground. She heard voices muffled by the sack. She groaned and shifted in their grip slightly. She could feel and smell dried blood upon her face where they had struck her out for the count.

Through the sack she could hear the sound of men training, dogs barking and orders being given. They had brought her back to The Fort.

_"Crap."_ She thought to herself, _"He's going to be one pissed of dictator" _she heaved a sigh and waited for them to drag her sorry ass into Caesar's tent.

She heard the tent flap being lifted and she felt them move her in, she stumbled with her sluggish feet, the guards who held her didn't give her any assistance, they pushed her through the tent to the open air throne room and forced her to her knees. They lifted the sack from her head and she was momentarily blinded by the noonday sunshine, bringing tears to her eyes.

Caesar sat upon his throne before her. With the look of 'I'm-not-too-happy-with-a-certain-Courier' on his face. She looked up at him. He took a deep breath and addressed her.

"There were certain things that I expected from you, Courier. You knew there would be consequences if these things were not achieved." He clicked his fingers.

Two praetorian guards opened the curtain to the side, revealing the other captives. Her shock was evident, that his reach was so far throughout the Mojave that she could capture each of her companions. Lucius moved forward and dropped ED-E onto the ground. The little Eyebot was no longer functioning.

She began to feel the anger and panic set in, her heart rate rose and her breathing began to come shallow and fast.

"There's worse to come." Caesar said standing and approaching his line of captives. He walked behind each one, before pointing to Boone.

"This NCR dog is the one whom to took on your little forays against three of my camps, correct?" he asked her.

"Actually," she began, "it was more like five and a skirmish against an attack your men attempted on the Bitter Springs refugee camp, Nelson, Cottonwood Cove, Techatticup mine, the Legion Raid camp near Nipton and the camp near Ranger Station Charlie." She replied, with an air of smugness. "Didn't know about the other two did you Vulpes? You must be getting soft." She sneered at the leader of the Frumentarii who scowled dangerously at her.

She received a knee to the face for that little jibe. She shook away the stars in her eyes from the blow and heard Boone cry out and struggle against his bonds in a failing attempt to come to her aid. She looked up at Lucius and scowled, licking at the blood that had formed in the corner of her mouth, where her teeth had nipped into the skin of her lips, the taste of her own blood steeled her.

Caesar moved back to sit in front of her. He smiled unpleasantly. "So, it's your choice, who shall I crucify first? My choice would be the Brotherhood whore, or perhaps the drunken caravaneer without a caravan to her name. The Nightkin might provide some long term entertainment, or even that Follower's fop. But I'm sure that the Sniper would prove more than adequate. The Ghoul would probably fall apart before we lashed him to the cross."

She heard the click-click of claws upon the ground as Rex came and sat beside Caesar, his tail wagging and tongue lolling as he panted happily. Caesar moved a hand and patted the Cyberdog on the back.

"At least one of your friends has the good sense to side with me." Caesar rubbed the dog's ears affectionately. "Maybe I should give Vulpes a new hat, Hmm? Do you think this boy's head would look good as a hat? We'll keep the brain in there for show of course." Rex wined and rubbed his head against Caesar's hand, his tail wagging happily.

"What exactly do you want, Caesar?" Ella said, peevishly. Today was not going to end well, and she knew it.

Caesar stood angrily, "I want you to finish what I ordered you to start. You have been more than a thorn in my side; you've been a whole fucking cactus. Destroying well laid plans that took months, even years to set up. Rendering camps unusable by dropping radioactive waste onto Cottonwood cove _after_ you killed every Legion soldier there, and then coming back to rescue a Khan degenerate who was caught trying to smuggle narcotics into my territory." He began to pace.

"But you couldn't stop there, oh fuck no. You had to just go and ruin more of the hard work that my men and I had put into the Mojave. Silus, for example, oh he got what was coming to him in the end, but not before you got him to sing like the little bird he was. Not to mention stopping the bomb that was planted upon the Monorail and having one of my more dedicated operatives captured, and let's not forget the Khan incident, thank you very much for that, by the way."

"You're _welcome_." she said sarcastically.

Caesar's face was now very red, and his veins were showing on his neck. He flew at her, his hands reaching around her neck. "I could kill you right now, while your friends watch, but I'd rather have your friends killed, while you watch. Perhaps then, you can feel some of the anguish that I have felt at the destruction of my plans that you have wrought."

Ella's throat tightened and she struggled to breathe; he saw the fear in her eyes as he tightened his grip.

_'Good'_ he thought, '_let her feel fear_' form the side, he could hear the Nightkin growl and struggle against her chains, he heard the others in her group struggling as well, it was obvious that she was well liked amongst the group, this was something he could play on. He released his grip on her neck and sat back down. He could feel the beginnings of a headache coming on.

When he was settled back in his throne, he watched her get back to her knees, her bound hands rubbed at her throat and tears rimmed her eyes from the strain.

Ella's throat burned from the treatment, she coughed and took in several rasping breaths before she looked up at the tyrant before her. He watched her as she watched him, his gaze calculating the ways he could manipulate her, her eyes showing her contempt and hatred for him.

"Lucius, take them all outside and execute them." He ordered, Lucius and his men moved quickly to the struggling group of captives. Ella looked to the scene in horror, Veronica's face said it all, and she was pale and drawn, fear coursed across her face as she struggled with the men.

Cass was ready to put up a fight, shouting at the men who held her, spitting and fighting like a wildcat, she received a few strikes but valiantly kept up the fight.

Boone struggled in his bonds to no avail, while Lilly roared her displeasure and tried to break the chains that the soldiers held with little success.

Arcade and Raul were the only two who seemed resigned to their fate.

Ella took a deep breath and looked back at Caesar, her eyes imploring him

"Caesar, wait please. I give myself to you in their place, please let them go and I will serve you, I will be your slave, please just let them all go I'll do anything!" she said, throwing herself to the base of the throne. For her to throw herself to his mercy was one of the most debasing things, short of offering to become the sole whore for the entire legion's soldiery, that she could have done.

Caesar looked at her, and held his hand up, indicating that his men should hold their places with the captives.

"Anything?" he said to her, standing up. Ella nodded. Caesar went down on bended knee to her prone form. "Say it aloud for everyone to hear you." He whispered with a tone of danger within his voice.

"I pledge myself to your service as your slave, in exchange for the lives and freedom of my companions and friends who stand as your prisoners here today." Ella said aloud, she was defeated and he knew it. He basked in his victory.

"Very well, I accept, but should any of your friends take action against any of my men from this day forward, you will be adorning a cross." Caesar looked to Lucius, "Take them to the Docks and send them back to the Mojave. He turned to Ella, her eyes downcast and body slumped in defeat.

"Go and say your goodbyes." He smiled at her.


	2. Chapter 2

At the Blue Paradise holiday rental shacks, where the new landing for the Legion had been set up, Ella spoke quietly to her friends while the guards that surrounded her watched.

"Veronica, you need to convince Elder McNamara to get the hell out of the Mojave, I know the first task that Caesar will have for me to do." she took a deep breath. "He wants me to destroy the Brotherhood's chapter here; I couldn't do that for him before. You know where my loyalties lie on this; but, I'll have no choice in the matter now."

Veronica nodded, "I'll do what I can, but the Elder is, as you know, stubborn." She placed a hand on her friend's shoulder.

"Caesar won't stop until everyone from the chapter is dead, and the bunker destroyed, you've got to convince him." Ella warned her.

"Thanks for the warning." Veronica was grateful to Ella, they had travelled a fair way together, from Vault 22, to Vault 34 to Helios One, where they discovered the Archimedes weapon, but had decided that the Pulse gun was the way to go to try to convince the Elder of the importance of releasing the chapter from Lockdown.

She turned to Lilly, the huge Nightkin was still chained.

"Oh, Dearie." She said in her rough voice, "You didn't have to do this."

Ella smiled at the FEV victim, "Yes, I did, Lilly, I couldn't let them hurt you. Keep taking your medicine at half doses, and keep remembering your grandkids, they deserve to be remembered." Lilly lifted her up in a big bear hug, causing the Legion soldiers keeping guard on her to pull upon the chains that bound the Nightkin.

"I'll remember you too, Dearie!" the Nightkin rumbled, plonking Ella back down. The Legionaries settled down once Ella had moved away from the Nightkin.

Raul looked at her with his sad eyes; he thought of her as a surrogate sister, she had helped him find his self-worth again, despite his age.

"Boss," he said, on the verge of tears, or at least he would be if his tear ducts still worked properly.

Ella smiled sadly, "I know, its ok Raul, go and live your life as you wish, don't worry about me, I did this because I couldn't let them kill you all, besides it was me he really wanted."

"I'll say," Arcade said, "Like he said, and I quote 'You're not just a thorn in my side, you're a fucking cactus.'" Arcade pushed his glasses up on the bridge of his nose, from there they had slipped slighty "I'm sorry that this choice was taken at your own sacrifice, so I'll say _Gratias Tibi_ – thank you, and _Res Secundae_ – favourable things, which is more like saying good luck." Ella smiled,

"Somehow, I think I'm going to definitely need to learn Latin." Ella said, as she hugged Arcade, he looked a little uncomfortable at the contact. "Tell your friends, what was it…? Grati-something tibo?"

_"Gratias Tibi"_ Arcade smiled, "You'll get the hang of it." Ella nodded and turned to Cass.

"Shit, you're really fucking doing this then?" she asked Ella, "You know, I could take on these assholes right now, given enough whiskey in my system." Ella smiled, and embraced the rough-as-guts caravaneer Rose of Sharon Cassidy

"I'll try to slip some of your moonshine into his drink one day; see if that kills him." she whispered, "Damn near did the job for me when I tried it that first time." She joked.

"Give him two shots of it, just to be sure." Cass said, the sympathy in her eyes for what her friend was about to have to deal with, for the rest of her life, or at least as long as Caesar had a use for her. Given the attractiveness of Ella, she had a feeling that Caesar would keep her around for quite some time.

Boone was last. He stood stoically. His eyes were unreadable from behind his shades. He swallowed the lump in his throat, about to lose another woman he cared deeply about to the Legion, but this time, she sacrificed herself so that he and the others could live. What made it worse, was that she had willingly done it, and to Caesar himself.

"Boone…" Ella said softly, He lowered his head and embraced her.

"I know." He said softly, "Just be safe, don't go getting yourself lashed to a goddamn cross." He pulled away from her and reached up and gently touched the scar on her head where Benny's bullets had tried to take her to the grave, but failed.

She felt the warmth in his touch and her heart dropped, she had an inkling that he had feelings for her, after all they had shared many weeks travelling together, hunting legionaries, she'd changed in front of him so many times that she didn't even think about it. Of course he would have natural needs and urges, but he still mourned for his Carla, and she hadn't pushed the issue.

And now he was having his heart broken again. It tore at her heart as well. A tear broke free and trickled down her face. Vulpes called her from the raft.

"Time to go, Slave." He said. He threw ED-E onto the bank with a clatter, and with weapons trained on the others; the guards came and took Ella from the shore. She stepped upon the raft and settled in for the ride back to the Fort.

Vulpes watched her with a calculating gaze. He smiled smugly to himself as he saw the confidence drain from her the further they travelled from the western shore. She watched the scenery as it passed, her body language revealing her emotional defeat.

She was in turmoil, fear, hatred and loathing. Fear of the unknown, hatred for getting herself and her friends into this situation, and loathing of the men who surrounded her, but most of all for Caesar, for setting foot in the Mojave in the first place.

There were plenty of "ifs" in this situation, if only Caesar hadn't reared his ugly head, then Mr House wouldn't have needed the Platinum chip to upgrade his Securitron forces, then Benny wouldn't have gotten it into his head to want to take over New Vegas, although from what she knew from talking to the guy, then shooting him afterwards, he was probably going to go down that avenue anyway.

She wouldn't have a nice scar from being shot in the head twice, if all this had come to occur, and she would have had all her memories and gone on living as a simple Courier for the Mojave Express. But then, she wouldn't have made so many friends, met the people she cared about, and helped out so many others.

Many of her memories before Benny shot them away with Maria were still missing, and she likely would not recover them. But the ones that had been formed with her life now were good ones, ones she wanted to keep, and hold on to. She had a feeling that she would need good memories to drown out the bad ones that were to come.

She held her head in her hands as she sat upon the deck of the raft and dozed lightly in the warmth of the Mojave. She was kicked awake by Vulpes when they arrived. She was escorted under guard through the encampment.

One of the Slave Masters, who had replaced Canyon-Runner, whom Boone had taken immense pleasure in shooting when they had attacked Cottonwood Cove, approached them.

"A new slave to be broken?" he asked, looking her over. Vulpes smiled,

"This one is Caesar's pleasure to break." He said smoothly. The Slave master smiled,

"Pity, I enjoy breaking the pretty ones." He smirked. Ella scowled at him, and was pushed roughly forward as Vulpes continued on.

They entered the tent to discover Caesar's throne was empty; the curtains to his private quarters were closed. Lucius approached them.

"The Emperor is resting; you will stay in there until he calls for you." Lucius took her arm and pushed her to a corner in the tent where a table and several shelves were arrayed. Rex came out from Caesar's tent and sat beside her, his deep eyes showing happiness at seeing her again. She smiled at the Cyberdog, noting that he was much healthier with his new brain from Lupa.

Ella took comfort in the warmth of the dog's companionship, Rex was a good dog, he'd helped her out in many a fight. She figured she'd need a friend in this hostile place. It might help pass the captivity.

Hours later, Caesar emerged. Rex got up and went to his side.

"There's my good boy." Caesar said, affectionately rubbing the dog's ears. "You've been gone for far too long." Rex sat and looked at Caesar with those big, intelligent, golden German Shepherd eyes he had. It was almost touching to watch Caesar show affection for the Cyberdog, but then Ella remembered who the man was, and what role he had in her life now.

She sat quietly, hoping he wouldn't notice her anytime soon, she was wrong. He turned to her and approached, Rex walking by Caesar's side, his tail wagging in happy abandon.


	3. Chapter 3

AUTHORS NOTE: Please excuse any poor Latin translations (Its not a really big thing to learn in the Australian Public School System when i was a kid), I've never had cause to really learn, or use it except in my musical studies, so I've utilised the wonderful world wide web for Latin research.

To **Falloutkitten **and**Sember13** Thanks so much for your support, and reviews, I greatly appreciate them!

Caesar pulled out a chair at the table and sat down, he pulled out another chair that was beside the first and indicated for her to come and sit beside him. Lucius followed with a bowl of water and cloth, which he placed upon the table before Caesar.

Ella cautiously got up from her position on the floor and moved to sit beside Caesar. When she had settled in her seat, Rex came over and placed his head in her lap, his expressive eyes darting from her to Caesar and back. Ella reached down and gently stroked his ears, smiling softly.

Caesar reached over and took up the cloth. He dipped it in the bowl of water and squeezed out the excess. He reached out and took her chin in his free hand, he felt her flinch at his touch and she began to pull away. Caesar gripped her chin harder,

"Hold still." He warned her sternly. She complied while he wiped away the dried blood from her temple where she had been struck and knocked unconscious. The water was cool upon her skin, but his touch turned her blood to ice. She took a deep and slightly shuddering breath as he finished and checked his work.

The cut was not too deep, but like most head wounds it had bled. He turned her head to face his. She watched his eyes as they went to the corner of her mouth where there was more, fresh blood from where Lucius had kneed her in the face.

Caesar leaned in closer, gently pulling her towards him at the same time. He wiped away the blood from her face, her lip was slightly swollen. With deliberate quickness, he moved in and pressed his lips to hers in a forceful kiss that jarred her.

Ella panicked and pulled away quickly, she got up from the chair and moved away from Caesar, Rex backed away from her just as quickly as she arose, a confused look upon his face, as if to say 'Did I do something wrong?"

"Don't you dare touch me!" Ella said angrily, hugging herself.

Caesar stood up and approached her.

"You are _My Slave_. I will touch you when, and where I want. Remember that you gave yourself to me willingly." Caesar grabbed her by the wrists and dragged her towards the table.

"Lucius send them in." he said to his Praetorian bodyguard. Caesar turned back to her, he held both her wrists. "Take off your jacket." He ordered her, she struggled and he released her wrists.

"Go to hell." She said venomously. Caesar smiled,

"As you wish." He motioned to the guards who stood behind him.

"Hold her." He ordered his guards. They grabbed her quickly; she struggled and spat at them, receiving a blow to her cheek for her efforts. Once she was held fast an immobile, Caesar approached and began to unbuckle the leather armour jacket.

He watched her eyes as he expertly slid the leather tongues through the buckles, removing the reinforced shoulder pads. He dropped them behind him with a look of disdain aimed at her. He noticed her gearing up for an attack, his hand shot out to seize her by the throat.

"Spit on me, and I'll make sure you regret it for the rest of your life, however short, or long you wish make it." He said to her, staring meaningfully into her eyes, he made sure his point was taken before he continued.

"Now swallow it." He watched as her breathing became strained and heavy with her anger, and the pressure he was placing upon her throat. He felt her swallow the spittle and he released his grip on her throat and continued on with removing her outer armour.

"Good girl, you will learn respect." He said as he worked on her armour.

Cool air met with her skin as he opened the front of her jacket. She shuddered in the grip of the strong men as Goosebumps played across her flesh. Caesar smiled and pulled the shoulders of the jacket down over her arms, the men moving their hands up her arms as Caesar moved the jacket down and off her.

She stood in her bra and leather pants, still held by the praetorian guards. She trembled as Caesar reached up and traced the scar that Benny had given her with two shots to the head, befor tracing his fingers down the side of her face and along her jawline.

"Put her face down on the table." He ordered his men. They shifted her, turning her around to face the table and ungently pushed her down. Ella struggled against them, getting herself raised up a little, before they slammed her down; she hit the table's surface with a cry of pain.

"The more you fight, the longer this will take." Caesar said, as he approached the side of the table where her head had been turned. He gently brushed away a strand of hair that had fallen over her face.

"My Lord?" one of the men behind him spoke, Caesar looked and nodded.

"You may begin." He said to the men. He returned his attention to Ella, "Now hold still and don't struggle, if you move, this will take much longer." He smiled sadistically.

"What are you doing to me?" Ella asked, strained and afraid, she felt the men press down upon her body to stop her from moving again.

"I'm giving you a mark, to claim you as mine now and forever." He sneered. "Your little transgressions against me have earned you the unenviable place as my personal slave. There will, of course, be a punishment for your warning the Brotherhood of Steel to get out of the Mojave, and I'm inclined to grant them a few days leave, before I deal with them."

She flinched as she felt his hand move down her bare back to the round of her buttocks.

"Don't move, my dear." He said softly, "Remember, you are _mine_." She felt the first sting of the needle as the men began to tattoo her; she gasped in pain, and whimpered, she took deep sobbing breaths, tears sliding down her face at the sharp and unwanted pain.

She hated this, they had the power over her, no matter how she fought, Caesar would win in this situation, she had given herself up willingly for her friends, '_It's worth it'_ she told herself, but part of her, the scared shitless part, told her it wasn't.

Minutes, or hours later, she felt the men release her. Her left shoulder burned with agony from the attentions of the tattooist's needle. Caesar spoke from somewhere behind her,

"You can sit up now."

Ella took a deep breath and sat up, facing away from the men. She hunched over in misery, and covered her almost bare chest with her arms, her fingers reaching around to her shoulders. She flinched when her fingers brushed against the edges of the tattoo. Caesar moved to stand before her

"There, now you are mine." He said, and held up a hand mirror, behind her, the tattoo artist held up another mirror, so she could see the work he had done to her.

A red flag with a yellow bull and beneath it written in Caesar's Latin '_Aeternit Servus Caesar_' with a red 'X' below the words was now marked upon her skin. The area around the inking was red and angry with pain.

Caesar smiled as she tried to make sense of the words.

"I don't understand…" she began.

"It says, 'Eternal Slave of Caesar.'" Caesar put down his hand mirror and took one of her hands from her shoulder; he kissed the hand he held, felling her flinch at the unwanted touch of his lips upon her skin and helped her down from the table.

Lucius handed her a sleeveless dress of dull colour, which she slipped on as fast as she could manage.

"My Lord, Legate Lanius awaits you in your throne room." Lucius announced.

"Excellent." Caesar turned to Ella and kissed her hand again, "You may rest here, until I have room made for you in my quarters. I will see you soon, for there is much for you to do." he left her to greet his Legate, and the second most powerful man in the Legion.

Ella turned and watched her master, a term she already hated, along with the man who held it. Lanius stood clad in the armour and mask that Caesar had made for him, he was a tall, imposing man, and if the legends were true, a more dangers creature just by his strength alone, than Caesar would be with his mind and words.

Lucius brought in some food for her, and closed a section of the tent off to give Caesar and Lanius some privacy. Ella sat at the table, where she had received her mark and ate. Two praetorian guards stood watch over her. when she had finished, she lay her head on her arms and wept silently, emotionally and physically drained she soon drifted off into a restless sleep at the table.


	4. Chapter 4

AUTHORS NOTE:

To **Leyshla Gisel ** and **Lana** Thanks for your Reviews, I'll be writing more in the next few days, i get some days off from work! Glad you're enjoying the story!

Lanius stood before his Lord, Caesar, the man who had given him a new life and purpose when his own people had betrayed and attacked him.

"I see you have brought the Courier to heel, my Lord." Lanius spoke from behind the mask of Mars. Caesar smiled and nodded,

"Yes, all it took was to find those she cared about and bring them all together. I was hoping to execute her by crucifixion, but she offered herself to me as my personal slave, something now I think upon it, I much prefer. She has a spark of fire that I will more than happily break down and crush." Caesar looked over several reports that Lanius had brought to him.

"If you need any help, I would gladly oblige, M Lord." Lanius rumbled, "I will strike the insolence from her eyes if you wish, it would be a pleasure."

Caesar grinned at his Legate, "I want her to watch while I break her, Lanius, she is no good to me blind. Besides I have some work for her to do with Vulpes and she can achieve that far sooner with her eyes intact." Caesar frowned at one the readiness reports, there was a squad of legionaries under Lanius which was not performing as well as he was expecting.

"Decimatio." Caesar ordered, handing back the report to his Legate. Lanius nodded.

"I was going to suggest that, My Lord." He took the report and handed it to his adjunct.

"Make sure that there are members from these other squads which are beginning to slip present to witness it." Caesar said, looking through other reports. He arose from his throne and walked beside Lanius, Lucius followed his Lord with three other Praetorian guard in tow. "Come, lets' go and tour the camp, it has been three days since I toured."

"You are not going to show off your new prize, my Lord?" Lanius asked of Caesar.

"No, she needs to get used to her captivity, I'll show her off tomorrow." Caesar replied, as his Praetorian guard formed up around him and they left the tent. Caesar's mind went back to his encounter with the Courier, the taste of her lips was still on his, he remembered the sensation of her smooth skin littered with several scars upon her back, and her firm young buttocks which fit perfectly in his hand. She was a magnificent specimen of womanhood, and she had given herself to him in exchange for the lives of her friends. She was loyal, but not to him, not yet.

"Should you tire of her, I will gladly take her and show her what it is to be a real slave of the Legion." Lanius offered. Lucius smiled.

"There is already a line up for her when, and if Lord Caesar tired of her charms." He smirked

Caesar looked at the two men in his close circle, "Let us see if Vulpes can keep her alive for me when they go to finalise some things that she has left unfinished." Caesar nodded to several of the men as they saluted him. Several young boys ran past him crying "Hail Caesar!" as the Legionary Trainer put them through their training.

"There is still much to do before we can make the push for the Dam and Vegas. We have to get that firing mechanism for the howitzer, the Khans must pay for their treachery, and of course, the Brotherhood is to be dealt with." Caesar walked towards Antony and his dogs.

There were several fat puppies playing with each other, the last of Lupa's brood before the Courier had killed her in combat, her brain now resided within Rex's head thanks to Dr Henry. Caesar picked up one of the roly-poly pups, which wriggled in his grip and rolled its eyes, while it tried to bite him playfully. Caesar smiled and put the puppy back with his litter mates where it instantly ran up and attacked the weakest pup.

"They will make fine killers of our Enemies." Caesar observed,

Antony nodded, "Yes, my Lord, Lupa's last litter will be her legacy." Antony said, proudly.

Caesar nodded to the master of the hounds and moved on towards the inner gate to the main encampment. He passed the crucified slaves with barely a glance and spoke to several of his men, Centurions, Decanus, and Recruit alike. His two in camp Vexillarius saluted him as he passed by.

Ella awoke when Caesar returned to his tents with his men. Her shoulders and neck both ached from the awkward position that she had slept in. She sat up in the chair and rolled her neck and shoulders, feeling the bones clunk back into place with a slight relief. The area that now was marked with Caesar's tattoo still burned with pain.

She turned her head and looked at the parts of it that she could see, the redness around the skin had gone down slightly. She gently applied pressure to the area, feeling the burn increase, then decrease in intensity, giving her some relief. The daylight had gone to deep red with dusk from what she could tell of the light that shone from beneath the curtain that separated the tent from the Throne room, lanterns and candles had been lit

Caesar noticed the curtain was still drawn in the other tent, he looked to Lucius,

"Send her to my quarters." He said, indicating the drawn curtains and the woman who sat beyond. Lucius nodded,

"At once, My Lord." He said with a knowing smile. Caesar moved to his quarters and entered, as Lucius opened the curtain to the tent where Ella sat, startling her.

She had been away within her own thoughts when Lucius intruded on her personal thoughts.

"Your Master wishes you to go to his quarters." He said to the enslaved Courier with a dark smile.

"I…I'm… not ready." Ella muttered. Lucius moved towards her, the other two guards in the tent with her moving towards her as well.

"Ready or not, he has ordered me to bring you to him, and unlike you, when Caesar gives me a command, I obey." he said grabbing her roughly. She gasped as his fingers dug into the sensitive spot where the tattoo had been marked.

"Let go of me!" Ella cried out in pain.

"Silence, woman." Lucius growled as she struggled in his grasp. One of the other men took her other arm and they handled her towards Caesar's quarters. Lucius could feel her tremble in his grip; it gave him a good feeling to know that she was scared. The near-legendary stories of the Courier were obviously false, the woman who stared death in the face and laughed at it was no more than a pitiful creature.

One of his men held open the door to Caesar's quarters as they pushed her through, she struggled in their grip as they approached the chair upon which Caesar now sat.

They threw her to the ground before him, and departed at his command.

Soft candlelight suffused the darkness that had deepened with the setting sun of dusk. The lighting did nothing to soften the man who now owned her. he looked her over as she sat upon her knees before him, her head and eyes downcast. He arose from his seat and walked around her once. When he was back before her, he spoke.

"Stand up." She quickly complied. "Good, you can obey, I was beginning to wonder if you knew how to do that."

"There are plenty of things I can do if I set my mind to it." She said coolly. He smiled at her.

"I'm sure there is." He moved towards her and took her face in his hands. "Right now, there is only one thing that I need from you." He said, before he kissed her deeply, she began to back away, trying to escape his mouth and his clear intentions. He reached around and pulled her close to him, she resisted, squirming away and protesting his attentions.

He turned her towards the bed and pushed her back, step by step towards it. She fell back onto the mattress when her legs hit the edge. He smiled and began to take off his armour while she watched, fear in her eyes. When he was nude before her, he climbed on top and proceeded to kiss the nape of her neck, pulling up the dress that she wore. He found to his dismay that she still had the leather trousers on underneath.

"We'll need to remove those." He said, reaching down to the fasteners, while kissing her upon the chest within the neckline of the dress. The mounds of her breasts rose and fell with each shuddering, fear-filled breath she took. He finally undid the fasteners of her trousers and lifted her backside one handed off the bed so he could remove the offending garments.

She hated him more and more, the horny old bastard was old enough to be her father, there was nothing she could do, no, actually there was, she waited and picked her moment.

She forced herself to relax, and brought her arms up to his shoulders, he seemed pleasantly surprised by the sudden change in heart, and he repositioned himself slightly,

"_Perfect"_ she thought, as he was in the right place, but for him it would be the wrong time

"There now, that wasn't so hard was it? He purred huskily with lust.

"No, my _master_ and neither was this!" she said, as she kneed him hard in the crotch.

Caesar gasped and went pale and limp. Ella pushed him off of her and ran from the Emperor's quarters. She heard Caesar call for Lucius as she ran his voice strained and full of pain.

As she ran through the throne room her mind was racing, what the hell did she just do? Where was she supposed to go? And how the hell was she going to get out of this alive? All her thoughts came to a crashing halt when she was tackled to the ground by Vulpes Inculta, and one of the Praetorian Guard, she screamed and scrabbled in the dust, trying to claw her way to the exit,

"No!" she cried, "No, let me go!" she was hauled up to her feet and dragged back to Caesar's quarters. Caesar had put on a robe, but was still slightly hunched over, a look of pure rage upon his still pale face. He approached her and back handed her hard across the face. She cried out in pain and sobbed.

"Lucius," he said to the head of his Praetorian Guard, "Show her what the consequences of further insolence and disobedience against me will be."

"With pleasure, My Lord." Lucius growled.

He grabbed Ella by the hair and with Vulpes hauled her out of the command tent and down to the roadside where the Crucified slaves were.

"Look up," Lucius said to her, pulling upon her hair as he spoke.

"If you even think of doing to Caesar as you did tonight, you will not only be lashed to a cross, but each and every Legionary in this camp will pass through the warm, moist place between your legs while you are tied there, and I will be the first after Caesar to enjoy your virtues, Legate Lanius will be next, and then Vulpes and so forth down to the last adult Legionary, and believe me, after we are done with you, you will wish that that profligate Benny had done the job properly and killed you." He shook her for emphasis on his words, "Do you understand me slave?"

Ella trembled and sobbed, her brave front shattered and now everything that she had faced, from Deathclaw herds, to the terrors of the Sierra Madre, Big MT and even the Divide, all came as nothing as to what would be in store for her if she defied Caesar's will. Hell, facing the legendary Deathclaw was much better than what Lucius promised her.

"Yes, I understand." She sobbed. Vulpes smiled at Lucius. "Good, remember this and you may just survive and be a good slave. Now you will return to Caesar and beg his forgiveness." Vulpes nodded to Lucius, and they marched her back to Caesar's tent.

Caesar sat upon the bed, his balls still hurting, the little vixen had gotten a good kick in. he heard the tent door open to the Throne room. He arose from the bed and waited for the Courier to be brought in before him. She was held by Vulpes and Lucius, and looked miserable, the mark on her face already going to bruise and tear tracks running down her pretty face. _"Good, let the little bitch suffer."_ He thought angrily.

Vulpes and Lucius released her. Ella dropped to her knees and bowed her head to the floor.

"Master, please forgive me, I am sorry for causing you injury, I shall never attempt to do so again." She said sombrely.

Caesar took a deep breath. "See that you don't. Lucius has informed you of the punishment for future aggressions against me?" he asked of her and she nodded.

"Yes, Master, he has." she replied quietly.

"Good, stand up." He waited while she arose shakily, she kept her head and eyes down, she was almost broken completely, it seemed far too easy to have accomplished so soon. He lifted her chin so that she was looking at him.

"You are forgiven, but I will not forget this, tomorrow morning you will receive ten lashes for your transgressions, five for warning the Brotherhood of Steel, and five for attacking me tonight."

"My master is merciful, I thank you for your forgiveness." She muttered softly. He leaned in and kissed her, this time she did not try to move away or resist him.

"I can be merciful, but I will only forgive you this once." He said as he broke the kiss, she nodded her understanding slowly

"You will sleep there." He said, pointing to a corner where a small mattress had been placed with a blanket and pillow. "In time, you will share my bed, until then, after your punishment tomorrow, I will send you on a mission for me, with Vulpes and a century." He took her by the arm and took her to her bedding.

"Get some rest, you will need it for tomorrow." He said, pushing her down to the mattress.

He turned and dismissed Lucius and Vulpes, before he headed to his own bed for the night.

Ella lay down and rolled over. She wept softly for she had underestimated the danger she would be in when she made the bargain of her life and freedom, for the lives and freedom of her friends. _"It's worth it"_ the optimist within kept telling her, but of course, the pessimist within said _"No fucking way, it's not!"_ it would be hours before she cried herself to sleep with her Master, the monster resting in the other bed.


	5. Chapter 5

It was a beautiful day, but Ella couldn't appreciate the beauty of it. She marched with the escort of Praetorian Guard to the Arena. There were many legionaries already assembled, and quite a few slaves as well here to learn the lesson that she was about to be taught.

She looked to the Arena with a sense of trepidation, the Slave Master awaited with a leather whip within the circle of the Arena; he flexed the strap and grinned wickedly. Ella took a deep breath and allowed the guard to push her to the Arena.

Caesar stood atop the hill before his tent. He spoke aloud to the watching audience.

"This Slave has committed transgressions against the Legion, against me. As punishment, I sentence her to ten lashes. I am granting her a mercy in this sentence, this mercy will only be granted once. Any further transgressions will result in her being crucified." Caesar looked to his men within the Arena and nodded to them.

Lucius grabbed Ella's left arm, and another Guard grabbed her right. She was held at the wrists and her arms were pulled straight. She took a deep breath and drew herself up, standing straight, chest out, head held high. She would maintain what dignity she could before succumbing to the pain that would be inflicted. She stood there dressed in slave rags for the occasion, ready to accept the punishment that Caesar had ordered.

"Begin." Caesar ordered the Slave Master.

The Slave Master nodded and took a step back, he pulled the whip and struck her back, cutting the rags on her back, but not breaking the skin. Ella took in a sharp breath and hissed through her teeth. The first lash burned like acid, the second lash came just as the burning pain started to subside. She gasped as the burn returned twice fold. By the fourth she cried out, her legs began to shake by the firth and she was upon her knees by the seventh, the guards still holding her up.

Her vision swam at the eighth stroke and she lost consciousness just after the ninth, she never felt the tenth. The men of the Legion cheering the slave master's work was the last sounds she heard before the world turned to black.

She was unconscious for most of the day and awoke stiff and sore and bare to the waist with a blanket covering her lower body on her mattress in Caesar's quarters. She felt a cool cloth being applied to her stinging back. Siri tended to her, gently washing the blood from the small sections of broken skin. Her back was a mass of straight lined bruises and weals. Ella moved uncomfortably and groaned with the pain.

Caesar entered his quarters and motioned Siri to leave. She put the cloth into the bowl of cool water and left. Caesar knelt beside Ella and took up the cloth himself. He knew she was hurting, and she had paid the price for her actions. He gently took up the cloth and continued wiping the bare back of his Slave. Ella didn't realise that Caesar had taken over until she felt his hand upon her shoulder as he wiped the cloth against her flesh.

She turned her head and looked at him, the pain flared again with her movements.

"Master?" she said softly.

"Shh," Caesar hushed her, stroking her hair, "Don't speak. Just accept this as a simple kindness."

Ella smiled, "Not something you are known for." She said, as she tried to sit up.

Caesar put down the cloth and helped her to a sitting position. "Perhaps when you get to know me better, you would realise that I am not the tyrant everyone in the Mojave thinks I am. I am feared, for good reason yes, but I am also respected by my men for my leadership and mercy."

"Yes, by your _men_." Ella replied, as she turned painfully to face him, holding the blanket up to cover her breasts. He allowed his eyes to roam her body, her eyes showed the pain she was in and her face was drawn and tired. He reached up and stroked her face gently; she did not flinch or try to move away, at this, he smiled. Another small victory, but one nonetheless.

"I hope one day to be respected by you as well, perhaps even trusted." He offered the possibility to her.

She lowered her eyes as he ran his fingers down her neck and to her shoulder. "My trust is not freely given." She said slowly.

"Nor is mine, but I am certain that you will earn it. Or else you will be joining the other profligates upon the cross." Caesar smiled, "Now, you should rest, for tomorrow, if you have recovered enough, you will leave here with Vulpes and a Century of soldiers and you will lead them to the Brotherhood of Steel, where you will destroy them." Caesar looked into her eyes, seeing the sadness within. He knew she was an honorary member, of Paladin rank. She would be the only one he spared.

"Yes, Master." She affirmed sadly. Caesar placed a kiss gently upon her lips and arose, leaving her to rest. Ella hoped to hell that Veronica had convinced the Elder to leave the Mojave. She grabbed the dress that was folded nearby and pulled it over her body, the rasping sensation of the rough material upon her back caused her to wince in pain and draw a deep breath.

Lucius arrived and placed a bowl of food before her,

"Thank you." She said softly, Lucius just scowled at her.

"I don't trust you woman, but if Caesar wants you alive, you will say that way, if you attack him again, I will not hesitate to kill you, do you understand me?" he growled.

"I do," Ella replied, "I will not attack him again, I will serve him as he wishes." She replied,

"Good, see that you do." he responded turning his back to her and leaving a guard with her.

Ella ate and returned to her rest.

Vulpes Inculta stood before Caesar; they were waiting for Ella to emerge, redressed in her old Leather Armour. Caesar watched as she moved past him, he reached out and took her by the wrist. "Courier," he said, stopping her movement, "I have something for you." She turned to face him, Rex was lying beside is new master, panting happily, and content.

"Yes, Master?" she enquired of him. Caesar stood from his throne and placed a slave collar around her neck and activated it. You are now connected to Vulpes, if his heart stops beating; your head will be taken from your body." Ella looked from Caesar to Vulpes and back again, Vulpes smiled sadistically.

"Don't worry, I intend on returning you to Caesar whole and healthy. But if you try to run…" he was interrupted by Caesar.

"If you try to run, or if Vulpes is killed, you will die. Not something I wish, for I do want you back here with me, but if it proves necessary, Vulpes has my permission to end your life, should you prove troublesome or treasonous to our cause." Caesar explained.

"Of course, this is about the trust issue, I understand. It was Vulpes' idea wasn't it?" she said softly.

"Guilty as charged." Vulpes confirmed for her what she already knew.

"You will not need any weapons, but there is a small pack of supplies for you. You will join the Centurion and his Century at the Blue Paradise landing, from there, you will lead the men to the hideout of the Brotherhood, and then the men of the Century will eradicate them, if they chose to stay." Caesar took up her hand and kissed it, Ella felt uncomfortable with the way he was showing affection towards her, possessive, and demanding. Violence tempered with small irregular mercies was the way he worked his mind games.

"Go, and return swiftly with victory." Caesar ordered them, releasing Ella's hand. Vulpes moved and saluted his Emperor.

"True to Caesar!" he intoned, then looked to Ella and inclined his head towards the door. Ella moved stepped stiffly before him and left Caesar's tent.

The departed the fort and travelled by raft to the Blue Paradise landing, where she had last seen her friends.

Vulpes escorted her to meet the Centurion who merely gave her a cursory look, showing her that he thought nothing of her at all, the standard impression of a Legion soldier to a female slave. Vulpes unrolled a map and pulled her towards it.

"Show us where the brotherhood hides."

"The area near Black Mountain, known as hidden valley is where they will be, if they are still there." Ella said, indicating the area near the NCR Correctional facility.

"During the night, there is an artificial sandstorm which forms part of the defensive systems. Within they have several Mark VI automated turrets, utilising high-intensity lasers in different sections of their bunker, to my knowledge there is also a self-destruct system installed in the bunker for emergencies." Ella explained to the two Legion men who watched as she grabbed a pencil and sketched out the layout of the bunker from memory on a scrap of paper. She tossed the pencil to the table and slid the sketch towards Vulpes.

Vulpes picked up the sketch and looked it over. "Excellent," he said, and committed the information to his memory. "We leave as soon as your men are ready, Centurion." He said to the commander of the Century.

"My men are ready now, Vulpes." The Centurion replied,

"Then let us go and get this done." Vulpes smiled.

Ella felt the full guilt of the situation upon her shoulders, the forced betrayal of her friends and comrades within the Brotherhood weighed heavily upon her mind. She knew there would be more asked of her by Caesar, not just to be his bed mate, his sexual plaything, but to betray others whose trust she had earned through kindness and good deeds. She sighed as she hefted the pack that had been provided to her upon her bruised and sore back.

She walked out behind Vulpes and the Centurion to join the waiting legionaries.


	6. Chapter 6

They passed through the railway cutting just past Nipton, where Ella had first met Vulpes and seen firsthand the horrors that the Legion was capable of and slipped behind the now empty NCRCF.

She led the Century up the road to Hidden Valley in the midmorning sunshine and through the gates to the bunker where the Brotherhood of Steel held its Mojave chapter. She stopped and indicated the doo to Vulpes.

"You first, my dear." He said, brandishing a 10mm SMG. Ella took a deep breath and opened the hydraulic door. The scraping noise that the old door made grated upon her ears as it opened. The corridor leading to the first open space was empty. The crates stacked against the wall were the same ones that she had seen when she first arrived.

Everything looked normal, until she approached the two shield barriers, two Mark VI turrets activated and began to track Ella and the legionaries. The heads of the deadly weapons lifting from their stand-down positions with the tell-tale mechanical whine of their hydraulic systems engaging.

"Get down!" Ella shouted, as the rest of the legion soldiers began to follow her into the open area. She threw herself onto the ground, just below the line of sight of the two turrets. She managed to get to the barrier and lay up against it, pressing herself against the cold metal and out of the range of the Brotherhood turrets.

She could feel her heart rate rising as she watched the two turrets deal deadly laser fire into the Century, twenty men had fallen or been turned to ash before her eyes, fortunately, Vulpes had managed to gain cover behind some of the heavy-duty crates.

Ella crawled behind the defences and pulled three cables from the first turret, the machine of death whined and powered down, while the other continued to fire, she moved quickly, deactivating the other turret, she made sure that it was offline before she called all clear.

Ella looked to the carnage before her as Vulpes got up from behind his cover. He moved to her side,

"Any more surprises?" he asked her, somewhat angrily.

She looked at him incredulously.

"You honestly think I know? I'm only an _honorary_ Paladin. I may have excellent technical and scientific knowledge from my travels, but I don't know every little trick of their trade." She said spitefully.

"Watch your tone, woman." Vulpes snapped. He turned to the Centurion, "Form the men up, and let's get to the job at hand." The Centurion moved quickly getting his men in formation.

Vulpes grabbed Ella by the arm,

"Get going." He snarled at her. She scowled back at him.

'_Asshat'_ she sent the thought in his direction, having remembered someone from the Big MT research facility having called another researcher that in an interoffice mail. It was appropriate she thought, to call Vulpes that, and she fought to keep the smile from her face he she moved before him.

The main corridor leading to Ramos' security office was empty, as were all the other areas of the first level of the bunker. The Firing range was eerily silent; the six Mark VI laser turrets were all deactivated and many of the lights were dimmed.

The quarters were empty, as was Schuler's medical office. Ella moved with Vulpes as they searched every room with groups of the Legionaries. The VR units were blackened, and there was a curious light blinking on the large computer terminal where the Self Destruct was housed. Ella had a sinking feeling in her gut, but left the thought in the back of her mind to fester.

"There is nothing here, sir." Reported a Legionary to Vulpes.

"Lead us to the command centre." He ordered Ella, pulling her by the arm, back the way they came.

They entered the Elder's command centre, there was a holographic projector set up, and a holographic image of him was being displayed.

_"Greetings, and welcome to Hidden Valley, Soldiers of the Legion."_ The holo-recording began _"I'm sure at this point in time, you are wondering where the Mojave Chapter of the Brotherhood of Steel has gone. We have taken the Courier's advice and departed the Mojave, temporarily. We will return, but in the meantime, we wish to offer you a parting gift: A tomb. This facility's self-destruct system was activated the moment this recording became active, you now have approximately forty-five seconds to get out, or be destroyed with this facility. Good luck and I hope you all burn in hell."_

Ella looked to Vulpes, "If you value your skin and that stupid ass hat you wear, I'd start running right about now." She said.

Vulpes turned and shouted. "Fall back, everyone get out!" he turned and grabbed Ella and they sprinted towards the exit to the upper levels, the mass exodus began with the men starting to panic, as the overload of the Bunker's CANDLE fusion power generator became audible.

"Go, go, go!" Ella shouted as men stood around stupidly, not understanding that there wasn't much time left. She and Vulpes reached the outer doors with mere seconds to spare, a flood of Legionaries went before them, thought their numbers were now severely down from the 80 soldiers within the Century, they had left their 20 support slaves back at Nipton.

Ella ran a few paces with Vulpes before the shockwave of the explosion threw them and the other men who had escaped to the dusty ground. Behind them clouds of smoke began to billow from the industrial fans that made up the DERVISH camouflage systems that kept the bunker hidden at night.

Men coughed and cursed, Ella propped herself up and looked around, her ears were ringing slightly from the noise of the explosion, Vulpes had a cut on his forehead, and she felt the sting of a small cut on her leg. There were other men who had worse injuries, nursing arms and fractured legs.

Vulpes got to his feet angrily and dusted himself down. He looked over the men, leaving Ella sitting in the dirt. She got up and staggered a little, her head spinning and ears still ringing. She moved over to an injured soldier, who was holding his arm.

"Let me take a look." She said, offering her help.

"Get away from me, profligate." He snarled.

"Fine, enjoy your pain." She snapped. Vulpes returned to her, "The Centurion didn't make, it, I am assuming command of the forces we have left." he turned to the array of men. "Any man who can stand do so." Several of the survivors arose shakily, sporting head wounds and broken arms. Those few who didn't arise, Vulpes walked over to each and shot them in the head.

Ella's hands went to her mouth in shock at Vulpes' butchery of his own men.

"Was that really necessary?" she asked him in shock when he returned to her side. He frowned at her.

"Each man was useless, how are they to get back to the Legion, Crawl? This is your fault for not doing Caesar's bidding when he asked you." He faced her, fury in his eyes. "You are fortunate that you are Caesar's slave, if you were mine, I would have had you lashed to a cross days ago." He turned and walked away from her.

She had no choice but to follow him as they moved out from Hidden Valley at a much slower pace than they had arrived. At Nipton, they re-joined the support crew and began to make their way back to the south, past the irradiated ruins of the town of Searchlight and back towards the Blue paradise shacks where the raft awaited them.

Caesar would not be too pleased to have lost almost a whole Century of men., and Ella was not looking forward to their return, despite the small victory of the destruction of the bunker, and the removal of the Brotherhood of Steel from the picture.

The raft ride back to the Fort was quiet; Vulpes sat across from her and looked as though he was deep in thought,

_'Probably trying to put all the blame upon me.´_ Ella thought miserably. _'Well, that would be just about right, it's my fault, if I hadn't warned them, there might have been less casualties on the Legion side, but the Brotherhood has superior weaponry and technology on their side, how can that compare to sportswear armour and machetes?"_ she checked over the cut on her leg, it had stopped bleeding a few hours ago but still hurt, she supposed that there must be some grit in there for it to still be hurting.

She looked over to Vulpes, the cut on his head was weeping, and he wiped absently at it.

"Vulpes, would you like me to check that cut on your head?" she asked him.

He frowned at her, "Don't bother, I can take care of it myself." He snarled.

"All right, just so you know, I have medical training if you change your mind." She offered.

Vulpes snorted his disdain and turned his head away from her to look out at their destination in the distance.

The raft docked and Vulpes moved off without a look at her. She got to her feet, feeling the stiffness in her muscles from her not moving for the few hours that it took to get to the Fort.

Vulpes moved quickly to Caesar's tent, and waited impatiently for Ella to catch up. He held the door open for her to enter first. Caesar sat upon his throne, speaking to one of his Centurions. Vulpes waited for his Emperor to finish before he approached at Caesar's bidding.

"My lord, the Brotherhood of Steel has departed the Mojave, their bunker was destroyed by their own subterfuge, and we suffered heavy losses. Of the full complement of the Century, we returned with only twenty-three Soldiers, but the Centurion was killed." Vulpes handed Caesar a folder with reports that he had compiled during their journey back to the Fort.

"Your slave, however, was instrumental in advising us on the location and gaining entry to the bunker. She disabled two Mark VI laser turrets, while we were being fired upon by these defences at risk to her own life. For that, she is to be commended." Vulpes reported to Caesar.

"However, she failed to mention the possibility that the bunker would be booby-trapped."

Ella opened her mouth to protest, but Caesar held his hand up to silence her. she closed her mouth and lowered her head.

Caesar listened to the rest of the report from Vulpes,

"The end result was achieved, I am satisfied." He said, "Excellent work, as always Vulpes, promote the surviving Decanus from the Century to Centurion and give him a Century to command." He arose from his throne and dismissed Vulpes. He beckoned Ella to follow him to his quarters.

Ella took a deep breath and followed her Master.


	7. Chapter 7

Within the privacy of Caesar's tent, he turned to the Courier.

"So, what happened exactly?" he asked her, causally.

Ella was caught off guard for a moment.

"When we arrived and entered the first section, the Brotherhood had two Mark VI turrets set up on aggressive standby, as soon as they detected us, they activated and opened fire. We took cover, and I somehow managed to get myself to their position, but under their line of sight. I deactivated them both, but not before we took several losses." Ella explained. Caesar poured two glasses of water and handed her one. She thanked him and continued.

"We scouted the entire bunker, checking each room and quarter, but there was no Brotherhood presence. I noticed something odd about one of the terminals, but I didn't think much of it, as I had not used that console during my short time with the brotherhood." She explained

"What console was that?" Caesar asked her, as he took a seat in a comfortable looking chair.

"Upon thinking it over, I believe it was the self-destruct systems console. As soon as we entered the command centre, a holographic message was played, informing us that the bunker was to be our tomb, and that the Brotherhood had indeed left the Mojave. When I realised the trap was set, I made a very strong suggestion to Vulpes that we should get the hell out of there." Ella said, she took a sip of the water, enjoying the fresh, cool sensation of it going down her dry throat.

"I believe you said, 'if you value your skin, and that stupid ass hat you wear, I'd start running right about now.'" Caesar quoted her.

Ella nodded thoughtfully, "Yes that sounds about right." She agreed.

Caesar smiled, and placed his glass of water on a table beside the chair. He arose and moved to her, taking her glass as well. He reached up and took her face in his hands and kissed her. She squirmed a little, still so damn uncomfortable with the way he was treating her. He held her face in a harder, firmer grip eliciting a squeak of discomfort from her. He pressed his kiss harder to her mouth.

When he broke away from her, he smiled. She could not look at his face, she was ashamed for letting him get away with it and he knew it. She also knew it was only a matter of time before He would try to take her to his bed again; she was definitely not relishing that thought.

"I am glad that you are back with me, I missed you. You will remain here for a few days, and then I will have you depart for Red Rock Canyon, you and Vulpes will deal with the Great Khans, seeing as you managed to break the alliance that I had Karl set up, you can deal with them."

Ella sighed and nodded her head and eyes downcast. "Yes, master." She affirmed his orders.

"I have something for you, something to wear that is more feminine and appropriate for my Concubine." He said, taking her hand and leading her to the section where a hospital partition stood separating his bathing area.

_"Concubine? What the hell?_" the though raced unwelcome through her head.

Set upon a coat hanger was a full length sleeveless dress. It was a deep crimson, and it would fit her form snugly. Caesar took up the dress and showed it to her.

"This will look lovely on you, my dear." He smiled.

"Thank-you, master." She replied, Caesar moved around to face her and began to unstrap her leather jacket.

"You can try it on now." He said, the huskiness returning to his voice.

_"Oh fuck, not this again._" Ella thought,

She kept her face straight and allowed him to remove the jacket. As Caesar pulled the jacket off her, she heard him sigh with lust. As soon as her hands and back were free from the leather garment, he moved behind her, undid the fasteners of her bra, and removed it. She quickly, self-consciously, hugged her arms across her chest in an attempt at modesty.

She heard him drop the leather garment and her bra to the ground and felt him grab her roughly by the hips, pulling her back towards him, causing her to gasp in surprise at the motion. He held her close to his body and she could feel the warmth of his breath against her neck through her long hair.

His hands began to roam to the fasteners of her leather pants; she took a few slow, deep breaths to try to calm the rising panic that she felt at his roaming hands. Her heart began to thunder its pulse in her ears and she began to tremble slightly.

"It has been quite some time since I had some worthy female company, let us see if you are, indeed worthy." He muttered behind her as he undid the button at the top of her pants. He traced a hand up over her stomach and caressed the bottom half of her breasts, where she had been unable to cover herself completely. She felt his desire and need grow she he pressed himself against her.

She felt the fur on his armour as if it were sandpaper, his predatory touch turning her into a frightened animal. Caesar began to pull down her leather pants, only to be stopped by Vulpes calling to his mater.

"My Lord, I have some information that has just come to hand, it is very important and urgent." The voice of Caesar's head Frumentarius was like a godsend; Caesar stopped molesting her and heaved an agitated sigh.

"Can it wait, Vulpes?" he said gruffly.

"No, my lord, I apologise, but it cannot wait." Vulpes answered from behind the door.

Caesar placed a kiss upon Ella's bare shoulder. "I will return soon, my dear." He said, handing her the dress, which she quickly pulled over herself as he left.

Once he was gone, Ella allowed the shaking to take over; she fell to her knees and sobbed, a hand to her mouth to quieten the noises of her emotional agony. She knew that she would eventually have to let him win, but it wasn't easy to let Caesar, of all people, to dominate her body. She took deep shuddering gasps, and hated herself.

_"A Traitor and a Whore, you're nothing but a Traitor to your friends and Caesars Whore."_ She told herself, delving into the darkness of depression. Part of her denied the darkness, _"I sacrificed myself for those I cared about, that does not make me a traitor, it makes me a martyr if anything."_ The voice of reason spoke to the voice of darkness, was she losing her mind? _"It just makes you the biggest idiot in this situation."_ The voice in the dark retorted.

Ella rocked back on her heels and sat in the middle of Caesars quarters. She calmed herself, "Stop being silly." She said to herself quietly, "Things will work out, one way or the other." The problem was she didn't know which way was better.

Caesar spent the next few hours discussing the new information with Vulpes, she was spared any further attention from him when he returned to his quarters with a headache. He went straight to his bed and lay down, pressing his hand to his temples, the skin under his eyes were rimmed with dark circles and he was pale.

"Master, are you all right?" Ella asked, strangely she was genuinely concerned for him.

"A headache, it will pass." He replied curtly.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" she offered.

"Get out and stop bothering me, I will call you when I need you." Caesar growled snappishly.

Ella arose and quickly left his quarters. She entered the throne room and sat upon the floor by the door to his tent. Vulpes and Lucius noticed her and smiled to each other. Ella chose to ignore the two men of Caesar as they worked on their plans to eradicate the Great Khans. Ella listened to their plotting. She hoped that they didn't know about the high passes at the back of Red Rock Canyon, so that at least some of the Khans could escape the Legion.

She just wished that she could have come up with a solution for them to get out of Red Rock before her capture, but if wishes were horses, beggars would ride.


	8. Chapter 8

She stood in the darkness of night at the burnt out farmhouse not too far from Red Rock Canyon, Vulpes and two Centurions by her side. The array of soldiers behind them stood quietly, waiting for the coming battle. Ella was somewhat impressed that they had managed to get through NCR territory in such large numbers, almost 200 men of the Legion stood behind her and Vulpes, ready to wipe out the Great Khans.

Vulpes looked to her, "it's time." He said, he turned to the two Centurions and nodded. The Legionaries marched off into the darkness, Ella and Vulpes followed in the rear guard of their forces.

Vulpes watched her face as she looked on. Concern was foremost on her features.

"Your face betrays your feelings." He observed smugly.

"I am a traitor to people whom I called Allies and Friends, through actions of my own choosing to save a few, I condemn many people I know and trust, and who trusted me in return, to death and enslavement. Of course I'm going to feel remorseful, you would have to have no soul not to." She looked pointedly at Vulpes.

"I am but a servant, an instrument of Caesar's will." Vulpes retorted. "Emotion should never intrude upon a victory for My Lord."

"How very convenient for you, not to have to feel anything, very _inhuman_ of you, Vulpes." She snapped slightly.

"How's that collar, _Slave?_" Vulpes asked snidely. "I can always make it tighter on you." Ella huffed her irritation as the sounds of gunfire began to ricochet through the canyon.

Vulpes took her roughly by the arm and they moved towards the battle to watch. Vulpes stopped atop an outcropping of rocks where they had an excellent view of the battle below.

Ella watched as Regis and Papa Khan were dragged form the Longhouse, along with others of their trusted circle. Jack and Dianne were hauled out as well. Dianne's blond locks receiving more than a few appreciative glance from the Legionaries who held them prisoner.

She heard the crack of rifle fire as Regis and Papa Khan were shot in the head, killed instantly. Melissa struggled and spat at the men who held her. She was backhanded roughly and thrown to the ground where she struggled to get back up bound as she was.

The camp was soon overrun, many male Khans lay dead, and the women who weren't too old were rounded up and enslaved. Ella's heart wept for their plight, they would be far worse off than she would be, their pride was evident in the way the women carried themselves, a pride that would be shattered by being broken down into serviceable slaves, Whores and drudges for the Legion.

Vulpes took her by the arm and led her down to the captives.

"Look upon your betrayer." He smiled, "Know the enemy was truly not Caesar, but your trusted friend." He shoved Ella forward into the firelight. The looks on the faces of the captured Khans was of devastation, rage, incredulousness, and fear.

Ella hung her head in shame, Melissa spat at her. The spittle dribbled down the front of her leather jacket. She didn't move to wipe it off; she wore it as a mark of her shame.

"Bitch, I hope they treat you the way they do all their whores." Dianne cursed her.

Vulpes smiled, "Take them to be processed, burn their drug lab and their tents, we have no use for them here." Ella watched as the dispirited Great Khans were marched in chains out of Red Rock Canyon on their way to be processed as Slaves.

Ella and Vulpes stood watch while men of the Legion torched the Khans home in the Canyon, the long house was burnt to the ground and their armoury was raided and destroyed with C4. Through it all, Ella watched with vacant eyes and a sorrowful heart.

Vulpes turned to her once the fires had gone down to coals and smiled, "Now, the Boomers." He said, as they moved out of the smoke and corpse filled canyon.

The made quick progress past the Fiends territories, the area was much quieter since Ella had taken the three heads of Violet, Driver Nephi and Cook-Cook. There were a few stragglers around, but they seemed to keep their distance from Ella and Vulpes.

They arrived at Fields' shack at dawn and they rested. Vulpes watched her as she ate, she was obviously raised to use manners, something that more common legionaries who were tribal raised before their absorption into the Legion were not in possession of. The use of "please," and "Thank-you." Were hardly used in the Legion, it was more "Do this or die upon a cross." More often than not things would get done.

Vulpes handed Ella a bottle of water, she took it from him and her fingers brushed his. The touch of her fingers was rough, but at the same time slightly soft. A thrill coursed through Vulpes' body at the warmth of her.

"Thank-you," the ex-courier said, opening the bottle and taking a sip. Vulpes watched her; she was, for a woman, an outstanding creature. She had skills, knowledge and a beauty that was not common within the Wasteland, it was no wonder that Caesar had wanted her to himself, Vulpes found himself slowly appreciating the Courier's body.

The dress she had worn when Caesar had told her to leave him to sleep had been form hugging, perhaps a little too small for her, but it had shown off her figure beautifully. Vulpes was a smart man; he knew that to pursue the Courier would not end well for him, or for her.

Caesar was a man of wit, and high intellect, of course he would know that other men, even those in his inner circle would want to possess such a fine slave for their own personal entertainment. There was no way that Vulpes would dare to try anything with the Courier. But then, lust can make a man stupid.

As the daylight began to shine through past the surrounding hills, they packed up their camp and began the trek through the bombarded town before the former Nellis Air Force Base.

Vulpes looked at the destruction that the Boomers had caused to the place, the frames of buildings were all that was left of the artillery fields that had once been a pre-war town, but now acted as the range for the Boomers to practice their targeting on unsuspecting prospectors and raiders.

Ella waved to the spotters upon the far towers, and received a light signal. "We're clear, they won't fire on us." She said to Vulpes.

"You're certain of this?" he asked,

"Yep, otherwise, we'd be either splattered all over the ground, or atomised by a direct hit by now." She assured him, before she began to move off through the broken and cratered grounds.

Raquel met them at the gates.

"Welcome back, who is this you have brought with you? Another friend?" she looked Vulpes over. "We have simple rules here, don't shoot anyone, don't steal, and we'll get along fine." Raquel smiled at Ella, "Mother Pearl was wondering what you were up to, we've not heard from you in a while. The restoration of the Bomber is going well and Jack and Loyal are working around the clock on her." Raquel reported the goings-on around Nellis as she escorted Ella and Vulpes to Mother Pearl's Barracks.

Pearl welcomed her and the Legionary with a smile, she bade them to sit so they could chat a while, Ella introduced Vulpes as 'Mr Fox' and Vulpes brought forth Caesar's offer.

Pearl thought about it for a few minutes. "If we help you, you will let us live." She patted the firearm on her hip. "Son, you don't seem to get it do you? You are here as our guest, or rather as the guest of a trusted friend here. I can order you thrown out into the firing field and let my youngers have you for target practice, you need to show us a little more respect." For once, Vulpes was speechless.

Ella intervened, "Pearl, what Mr Fox means is, that in the future, there is going to be a battle over at the Dam, he was wondering if you'd lend us a hand with the battle, maybe give your people a chance to fly the bomber in a real combat situation, get to try her out? Plus your artillery would be a great help."

Pearl looked over the savage who had come to be a most trusted friend and confidante to her and her people. "We will do this, for you." She said, pointing to the Courier.

"There's another thing I must ask, Have you a spare firing mechanism for a Howitzer?" Ella asked

Pearl smiled, "Of course, child, we would be remiss in our defences if we didn't have spares for our weapons."

"If Caesar wishes to have our assistance, he will have it on your behalf." Pearl got up from her couch and went to the door. "Now as to the other item you asked about," she said, waiting for the two visitors to join her, "The workshop has the part you need, just go and take it."

"Thank-you Pearl, I am grateful for your help." Ella said, taking Pearl's hands.

"As are we, for your help to us." Ella said, as she and Vulpes left her barracks.

They crossed the road and tracks and headed over to the huts. Ella opened the door to the workshop and entered the darkness. In the far back corner she moved to the storage cupboard and removed the heavy part for the Howitzer. Vulpes helped her to put it in a duffle bag and then took the weight himself.

"Right," Ella said, "That's done, now what?"

"We return to Caesar." Vulpes intoned.

_"Great_." Ella thought and resigned herself for a few more days of travel back down to the south with Caesar's head Frumentarius.


	9. Chapter 9

They moved around the northern reaches of New Vegas and followed the 95 south.

They had just passed the El Dorado Gas and Service station, where Ella and Boone had been captured, when the sound of gunshots punctuated the air.

Vulpes knocked her down but not before taking two hits to his side. He grimaced and held a hand to the injured area trying to hold back the blood flow. They took cover behind an outcropping of rocks on the edge of the El Dorado dry lake. Ella looked him over quickly; the blood was flowing through his fingers despite his efforts. She knew that he would be in mortal danger, and so would she be if they didn't deal with the threat.

If Vulpes died, the explosive collar that Caesar had placed around her neck again would go off, and she had no desire to have a legacy left as the Headless Courier.

Four Viper gunslingers approached cautiously, laughing at them.

"Ha! Got him," one grinned to the others as he watched Vulpes take the shot.

"Let's gut them, been a while since I saw a good gut show." Another said savagely. "I love it how they try to put their intestines back in." the laughter that followed chilled Ella, and something inside her clicked.

"Fuck this shit!" she said.

Vulpes tried to hold her back, but he was weakening. He pulled his 10mm pistol, but it was slick in his blood covered hands and he dropped it. Ella grabbed it and checked the chamber, the bastard was empty. Vulpes had used the last of his bullets against a bunch of Fiends who had surprised them. Ella tossed the useless weapon back to Vulpes and did a quick check of the approaching Vipers

"What are you doing?" he said, weakly.

"I'm saving your ass so you don't die and take my head off with this goddamned collar." She snarled the light of a savage warrior shining within her eyes.

The Vipers approached cautiously, one was wielding a knife, and he moved around to face the two victims. "Hello, Girly." He smiled, noticing Ella first. "Come to play with the Vipers?"

Ella smiled sweetly, "Only if you let me make the first move…" she said, and pushed herself up, backside first, kicking up her left leg as she did so. The heel of her boot connected with the hand that held the knife out, causing the Viper to lose his grip and the knife.

Ella leapt to her feet and caught the knife by the handle in mid-air, she followed through and slit the Viper's throat, and he gurgled and collapsed as his blood flowed down his chest.

She then turned to the other three, the berserker look in her eyes caused them to pause, she walked up to the Viper who held a sawn off shotgun, and his companion who stood with a 10mm SMG. She didn't look at either of them as she grabbed the shotgun from the surprised Viper's hand and stabbed the knife deep into his sternum, puncturing his heart, she twisted and pushed the barrel of the sawn off shotgun into the throat of the other Viper, and aimed the weapon up .

The resulting blast caused the man's skull to explode outwards and he fell to the ground, his body reacted, the SMG firing off a few shots, one ricocheting against a rock and striking Ella's leg. Ella grabbed his SMG as her victim fell. She took a deep breath and faced the last viper, he was the leader, and clad in metal armour.

His head, however, was bare. Ella smiled like the devil himself and took aim. The SMG reacted to her almost loving touch as she gently squeezed the trigger. She felt each and every kick of the weapon through her hands and arms, despite her relaxed stance and watched with satisfaction as the Viper took five rounds into his face before he collapsed to the ground, dead.

"Assholes, I'm so fucking sick of people shooting at me." She said, looking quickly over each body. She collected a couple of stimpacks and some Med-X before she returned to Vulpes. He was barely conscious, she took a strip from one of the Viper's clothes and rinsed it with a bottle of wiskey that she had also found on the bodies. It would have to do.

She knew that Vault 11 wasn't too far. It had a medical facility that she could use to try and help Vulpes, but first things first. She grabbed the remote for her collar and deactivated the damn thing. It bleeped twice, indicating it was inactive. She took a deep breath and then managed to heft him up onto her shoulder in a fireman's hold and began the trek across the dry lake, avoiding the giant ants that had made the dry lake their home.

She managed to get through the door to the entry cave. The four skeletons were still there, and several new tenants had to be dealt with before she could move through to the Vault proper. The corpses of seven Giant Mantises lay behind her as she opened the hydraulic doors to the Clinic. She slumped the unconscious Vulpes onto an operating table and did a quick check over him.

His heart rate was low, and slowing, she knew she didn't have much time.

She quickly ransacked the medical office, finding two blood packs, thankfully the medical technologies of civilisation before the great was of 2077 meant that blood packs were still useable over 200 years later. She hoped that two would be enough to help him. she worked quickly, applying a super stimpack, despite knowing the Frumentarius' detestation of anything to do with chems, drugs, or alcohol.

_"Don't like it? Tough."_ Ella thought with satisfaction as she felt his heart rate grow slightly stronger. She applied the two blood packs and removed the bullets, checking over the damage, it wasn't too bad but he might not be getting up for at least a week.

Ella worked for an hour on repairing the damage done to Vulpes, despite her massive memory loss, she somehow knew that she had medical training, everything that she was doing felt _right_. She finished up, and stitched him up, satisfied that should he survive the night, he should live.

Vulpes' mind was foggy; he couldn't remember much of what had happened for him to be lying upon an operating table in a rusty room. The noises around him sounded like an old Vault, he sat up, only to wince and groan as the pain flared through his sides.

He didn't know exactly where he was, but he knew there should be someone with him, a Slave, Caesar's Slave. He grimaced with pain as he swung his legs over the side of the table and slid his feet to the floor. He stood unsteadily for a few moments, regaining his balance.

He was bare to the waist and had been bandaged, there were bloody rags in a pile on a table, and other tables held the skeletal remains of others who had been brought to this place. He frowned as he looked upon the walls "I hate Nate!" or "Glover for Overseer!" slogans were plastered on posters. So it was a Vault, one that he knew Caesar's men had not searched yet. He looked around the clinic, there was no Autodoc in here, he wondered who had patched him up.

Ella returned from the cafeteria with an armful of food and some packs of Radaway.

"Morning, you really shouldn't be up, you'll open your wounds again." She said, cheerfully.

Vulpes noticed that she didn't have the collar on her neck. "What happened? Where are we and where is your collar, Slave?" he snapped irritably, the pain was flaring up again.

"Oh that's a nice way to say 'thanks Ella, for saving my life, I'm eternally grateful.' You know what, next time a Viper gunslinger gang decides to ambush us I'll just let them kill us both instead of taking on all four by myself ok?" Ella said, peevishly. "And to answer your other questions, we're in Vault 11, not too far from where we were ambushed, and your precious slave collar is over there on the other table, complete with the remote. I took it off in case your heart rate dropped below an acceptable level for the monitor and it blew my head off mid-operation, then you'd be just as dead as I would be." She took the food to a table, moving some bones off to the floor before placing the food on two plates.

"You need to get back into that bed. You need to eat and rest, we won't be travelling for a couple of days yet, until I'm satisfied that you are healed and well enough." Ella said, as she moved to help him back up onto the bed.

"Don't touch me, Slave," Vulpes growled, Ella raised her hands in mock surrender, she watched as he struggled onto the bed. "Food." He ordered her. She gave him an exasperated look.

"Where I come from, people say 'please' and don't act like a spoiled Legionary brat." She chastised him, she moved and handed him the plate of food, he looked over it disdainfully, old world gourmet cooking, probably irradiated still, he looked at her, scowling.

"You can wash it down with some Radaway, and for an entrée, here's a Rad-X." Ella said, placing a pill onto his plate. Ella took her own Rad-X and began to eat. Vulpes watched her like a hawk, he gingerly took up the pill and swallowed it, fortunately she had left him a bottle of clean water to wash down the food with. They ate in silence.

When they had both finished their meal, Ella approached Vulpes, "I need to take a look at your wounds, see if the stitches are still ok, can you sit up for me, please?" Vulpes rolled his eyes and tried to sit up, but he was feeling weak from the strain of getting up before. Ella came over and assisted him, despite his objections.

She unwound the bandages and checked over the stitches with a practiced eye and gently fingers. His skin flinched slightly at the coolness of her touch.

"Well, at least I know the nerves in your skin are still working, which is a good outward sign, and you haven't died on me yet, which is an even better one." She smiled at him, he failed to see the humour.

"We will leave here tomorrow." Vulpes said sternly.

"No, we will leave here when I am satisfied that you're well enough." Ella countered.

"I am in charge of this mission, and I am giving you a direct order, Slave." Vulpes snarled.

"And I'm telling you, that in my medical opinion, you are in absolutely no condition to travel, for at least another two days, maybe three if you keep pushing yourself. You're not superhuman Vulpes, you're merely a man." She said, leaning in closer to him, she was almost nose to nose with him, looking deep into his eyes.

Yes, he was a man, and he was not Caesar, but he was Caesar's man. A dangerous combination, especially for what happened next.

Vulpes leaned forward and kissed her, softly, passionately. It was an impulse that caught her off guard; he brought his arms around her and pulled her close. She reacted gently, almost as passionately as he treated her, before she realised the danger that this could lead to, for both of them. She disengaged from him, he held her by the arm.

"Vulpes," she began warningly, the guilt written over both their faces was evident.

"If you tell Him, I will deny it." Vulpes said sternly, "And then he will most likely kill you."

Ella breathed deeply, trying to push the emotions from her mind, her need for simple gentle, loving contact was just as strong as anyone else's, but dallying with Vulpes would get her killed, should Caesar find out, and now Vulpes had something else to hold against her, despite anything she would say in her own defence. Of course, Caesar would believe Vulpes over her any day, so she truly had no foot to stand upon.

_"Asshole"_ she thought to herself as she pulled away from his weak grip and sat down. "Get some rest, if you are up to it, then fine, we'll leave tomorrow." She relented. Vulpes smiled deviously as he lay down to sleep.


	10. Chapter 10

Vulpes awoke still sore and stiff the next morning. Ella was not in the clinic with him, but he heard a radio playing music down the hall. He arose and made his way towards the sound. Within the ladies washroom Ella stood. She was nude, and washing herself down with a rag and warm water.

Vulpes watched her, the scars upon her body stood out against the pink flush of her skin. He swallowed the uncomfortable lump that had grown in his throat. He had his own urgent needs to attend to, and this woman wasn't helping by washing herself down. He sighed and moved quickly to the men's washroom where he attended to his full bladder.

He returned to the doorway of the women's washroom and continued to watch as Ella cleaned the dirt and grime from her body. He could bear it no longer. He padded in to the washroom on bare feet. Ella stopped, upon hearing the soft pad of his feet upon the metal floor. She came instantly on edge. Vulpes moved slowly and gently placed his hands upon her shoulders.

"Vulpes, what are you doing?" she asked softly.

"Shh. It's all right." He said softly, he gently kissed her shoulder, running his hand down over the tattoo marking her as Caesar's property. His lips moved softly across her soft skin, gradually moving up behind her ears. She sighed at the sensation and relaxed, he'd found her 'spot' the bastard. She melted like Brahmin butter in his hands. His arms encircled her torso and she turned in the circle of his arms to face him.

"Should Caesar find out about this, we will both be upon a cross." She said, worriedly.

"You're not going to tell him, nor am I." Vulpes breathed softly, with lust. "Besides, you're not exactly struggling or fighting me, nor are you kicking me in the balls." His statement to the obvious made her think for a moment, _why wasn't she fighting him?_ The answer came to her in a flash

_You want him. You want __this__!_ Before she could resist, he moved quickly to claim her lips with his. His passion grew tenfold with every minute contact he had with her, he felt her tremble with excitement, there was no logic to it, it was more a simple, primal need than anything else, a fit, young man, as opposed to an old and obviously ill one was a much better choice of 'mate', even if he was the enemy, a manipulator of master level, the devil in disguise.

He gently brought her to the floor, where they moved together in passion, her moans and sighs echoing through the abandoned corridors, disturbing the dust motes in the air finally punctuated by their cries of passion. They lay there upon the floor of the women's washroom, trembling with the tiny aftershocks of their illicit dalliance. Their bodies cooling in the recirculated Vault air, the radio playing old world country style music, with a bit of jazz thrown in for good measure.

_"This is Mr New Vegas, fanning the flames of your passion."_ The voice of Mr New Vegas floated over the air past the illicit lovers. Ella had to smile at that. She heaved a sigh, for nothing had changed, she was still a slave, and Vulpes was still Caesar's man. She sat up and finished washing herself, before emptying the bucket, and pouring more water through the small still that she had rigged to clear the radiation content from the vault's water that she had drawn from the nearby sinks.

She dried herself off quickly, and dressed, leaving the bucket of steaming water and a clean rag for Vulpes to wash down with.

Vulpes lay there upon the cold floor, what the hell had he done? He'd allowed emotion and lust to get the better of him, something that he had vowed never to do, especially with a woman. He was only human, but he was also Caesar's Frumentarii. He felt he had betrayed his master, by letting his urges take over his good sense and dedication. He remained on the floor while the Slave moved about and cleaned herself up after their illicit tryst.

She had allowed him to take her though, which confused him a little, he had seen the aftermath of Caesar's attempt to take her to his bed the first time, he had winced inwardly when he saw his master's pale face, and had guessed what the little vixen had done to get away from Caesar. he had felt her struggle to get away from him and the other Praetorian, she was desperate.

Desperation can bring people to do strange things. But was she so desperate to avoid sleeping with Caesar? Surely she knew it was inevitable, and she should just accept it. It was better to have Caesar, and hope to not anger him, rather than some lowly legionary, or even the Butcher, Lanius, who struck all his slaves blind so that they could not see his face.

Vulpes heard her busying herself in the Clinic. He arose and washed quickly, drying himself off as he walked through to the clinic. He dressed from behind the privacy curtain, despite the fact that she had seen his muscular body. Ella kept her head down; she was ashamed of herself, obviously. Vulpes smiled to himself, he should be the one to be ashamed, but he was somewhat pleased with himself, another small victory, despite the lapse in his control.

He heard the click of the slave collar as she put it around her own neck. She coughed politely, and he turned to her, his disguise Merc Charmer outfit was undone at the front. She handed him the control and began to button up the outfit. He strapped the control to his wrist and watched her as she concentrated on the armour. He gently took her chin in his hands and lifted her head so as she could look into his eyes.

"You will not speak of this again, do you understand?" his eyes spoke of the horrors she would endure if she spoke against him.

"Yes, master Vulpes, I understand." She replied. She had been a fool, she should have fought him, but now, she had really done it this time. She had given herself freely to the enemy, and what was worse she had _enjoyed_ it. She felt dirtier than she had in a long time. Her own needs had overtaken her good sense; a single moment of judgmental lapse had undone her.

Vulpes had more against her now, she was so far behind in the scores that it didn't seem to matter what she did in order to try and subtly defy Caesar's orders anymore. She packed a duffle bag an waited for Vulpes to finish dressing.

When he was ready, she hefted the duffle bag and handed him the 10mm SMG. He checked it over quickly, satisfied with the repairs that she had done to it while he recovered from his surgery. He activated her collar, arming it with a push of the button on the remote.

"Let's go." He ordered her and they moved out through the rusting corridors of Vault 11 and out the cave entrance to the Mojave wasteland.

They arrived days later, slowed by Vulpes' injury, they had hardly spoken through their journey from Vault 11, meeting up with a small patrol of Legionaries, who had escorted them back the Blue paradise Landing. There had been a small camp set up, which had the makings of a large installation, once they cleared the feral ghouls and other mutated wildlife form the area. Ella and Vulpes boarded the raft and returned to Caesar's graces.

He welcomed them home, speaking with Vulpes, and indicating Ella to go and change into her customary dress and await him in his quarters. She complied, her heart sinking. Barring another nuclear war, in which she would be vaporised, she had a feeling that tonight, Caesar would be taking her to his bed and claiming her as his once and for all.


	11. Chapter 11

She awaited him within the tent that served as his quarters, the slave collar still around her neck chafed at her skin, Vulpes had adjusted it on her to be a bit tighter than it had been before. She understood now what Silus had said to Lt. Carrie Boyd at Camp McCarran, about the collars being so tight that there was no mistake that the wearers were slaves, that it would hurt even to swallow or breathe.

Caesar swept through the door of his quarters, letting the light of dusk through the door for a moment. He was silhouetted against the afternoon glow, imposing, but not too tall. A mere man, but a dangerous one. Ella turned to face him as he sat down upon a chair.

"Come here" he ordered her as he gestured for her to approach him.

Ella moved quickly to comply, when she stood before him, he pointed to the ground; she went to her knees before him. He gently caressed the side of her face, his eyes taking in every detail from the small mole on her chin to the bullet wound scar a la Benny. She didn't flinch once, he noticed.

Caesar smiled.

"Vulpes has given me a complete and thorough report on the outcome of the mission." He began.

Ella's heart rate went up a few beats, and she felt the nerves begin to rise.

"You performed quite well, and I thank you for saving Vulpes' life, though I doubt he would have done so himself." Caesar intoned. Ella felt relief flow over her, but dared not to show her feelings. Caesar held up the control for her collar and pressed the button to deactivate it. He reached down and removed the ghastly thing much to Ella's relief. She reached up and gently rubbed at the chafed skin, finding his hands already joining hers in the task.

"Thank-you Master." She said softly. Caesar smiled.

"It is nice to have you back with me, and know that I can trust you a little more." He held her face in his hands and leaned forward, his lips met hers with a slight jarring. He stood up, bringing her to stand with him as he kissed her. Caesar wrapped his arms around his captured courier and he moved her to the bed.

_"Oh fuck no, not again, how will I get out of this now?"_ her thoughts went to despair.

"Master, please, I, I am not ready." She begged as he pushed her down onto his bed.

"I _am_." He replied as he lifted the skirt of her dress up over her hips and began to pull down her underwear.

"Don't do this, I beg you, please." Ella pleaded.

"I have waited far too long for this, you will not resist me, nor will we have any disruption, I have made sure of that. Now I will claim what is mine to take." He said, as he removed his own garments. Tears rimmed Ella's eyes as the realisation came that she no longer had any control in the situation, he placed his hands upon her and she began to struggle against him.

He leaned back and struck her hard, leaving her lying upon the bed with her head to the side, eyes wide and breathing heavily in shock.

"I have no desire to share you with the rest of the men in this camp, but if you continue to behave like this, then I will have no alternative." He said as he positioned himself over her.

She felt him enter her and she cried out in despair, he smiled and began to set a pace within her. Each motion seemed to send a nail into the coffin of her enslavement, she no longer felt free, but at the entire mercy of this beast who had forced himself upon her.

Yet she still tried to resist, it was only the threat that he gave her that now kept her compliant to his wishes. Her tryst with Vulpes was heaven compared to what she was enduring now, she closed her eyes and endured, as long as she could endure, then she could survive Caesar's rough passion.

When he had finished, he kissed her and rolled off from her body. She was different to other slaves he had taken to his bed. She was not as compliant or as frightened as many of the others, he knew she detested him, which made it that much more exquisite that he now had her in his bed, he owned her, but not like he owned the legion and every man, woman and child within it, she was _his_ not there to follow his ideals, but for his pleasure.

He lay beside her trembling body, a sigh of satisfaction upon his lips. It had been far too long since he had a woman in his bed like her, she was almost perfect. The curve of her body against his seemed to fit just right, the scent of her, the warmth of her supple body against his skin made him feel alive and young again.

He could hear her softly weeping. He did not care, she was there for him to use, like so many others before her, but she was also special, she was the one who had caused so much trouble for him, and now he was able to properly punish her by having her as his personal slave.

Vulpes had told him about the surgery that she had performed on him in order to save his life, perhaps she could help him with his own problem, and if she refused, then he would compel her to help. His left leg had begun to drag a little, and Lucius had told him that he had stared into space for a full minute while Lucius gave him a report yesterday. That coupled with his horrendous headaches, and occasional weaknesses brought on a worrying thought that perhaps he had a brain tumor.

Her breathing had become even, he looked over to her, she was asleep, and had curled up in a ball on the other side of the bed. He watched her as she slept. A bruised and battered waif of a woman, a beautiful creature. Perhaps he did care for her after all, in a strange way. He reached over and gently stroked her dark hair, she murmured in her sleep and shifted slightly.

Caesar rolled over and snuggled into the Courier, enjoying the warmth of her body. He slipped an arm around her middle, and found that she had brought her hand over his. He breathed in her scent, and closed his eyes to sleep.

Ella feigned sleep while Caesar watched her, she held a storm of emotions within her mind, hatred, disgust, fear, loneliness, and despair all battled within her mind. She hated herself, and Caesar, and Vulpes. How dare these men take their leave with her body! They had no right! But the reasoning within her told her that yes, in their world, a world which she was now part of, they had the right to do to her what that wanted, or rather Caesar had the right to do to her as he wanted, Vulpes just got sneaky.

She hurt where he had forced himself into her, her face ached from his strike, and a bruise was beginning to form, her heart had been ripped to shreds by Caesar's actions and she didn't know if she would trust herself, or another man ever again. She had wept during and after the heinous act, and now found that even her reserves were dry, she could weep no more.

She rolled over quietly and curled up into the foetal position, she found comfort in the protective position, but almost jumped when Caesar rolled over and moved in to snuggle up with her. she murmured something incoherent, even to herself, to make him think she was still sleeping, and then gently moved her hand over the one that he had draped over her waist to make him think she had accepted him.

The problem was, she didn't know if she was fooling herself and _had_ accepted him. Her mind was so confused, in turmoil she closed her mind to everything else but her heartbeat and tried to drift off into a restless sleep.


	12. Chapter 12

**Authors Note:**

**Thanks for the great reviews and support guys! Sorry I have not posted for a few days, Real Life (Stop swearing!) gets in the way as usual, here's the next chapter!**

The next morning Caesar awoke to find Ella had moved to her mattress from his bed. He smiled to himself, she would share his bed one day, and of this he was certain. He got up and dressed. Ella awoke to the sounds of his movements and got up stiffly to help him in dressing. He caressed the side of her face as she fastened the armour to his body.

"See, you were ready." He smiled at her, taking her chin in his hand, she couldn't look at him, even when he lifted her lips to meet his.

Caesar went about the business of the day, Ella was placed beside his throne on the floor, and Rex decided to lie down next to her. His canine company comforted the woman whose life was in such turmoil. In the way of his kind, the cyberdog picked up on her distress and wanted to comfort his former mistress. Ella absently scratched Rex's ears gently, her thoughts returning to the night's events over and over again.

Midway through the morning, she was brought from her reverie of tormented thoughts and memories with Vulpes calling Caesar's name, Ella looked to Caesar. His eyes were vacant and he stated off into space, she sat up on her knees and gently touched his arm,

"Master?" she asked with genuine concern.

"I… yes, that… that would be… best. Yes, do that." Caesar mumbled almost incoherently. Within moments his eyes refocused and he returned to lucidity. Ella took her hand from his arm at his glance towards her.

"I'm fine, where were we Vulpes?" he said with a voice that indicated otherwise. Ella's suspicions arose in regards to the true nature of Caesar's health issues. Vulpes continued with his report. Caesar continued as if nothing had happened.

Caesar arose to take his lunch but was seized by a crippling headache,

"God-fucking-damn it!" he shouted, "Screw this shit, I'm going to lay down." He said, clutching the side of his head. Ella followed him into his tent and helped him to undress. As she helped him with his armour, she began to quietly question him

"Master, how long have you been having these headaches?" Ella asked him, he pressed a hand to his temple in pain.

"A few weeks or so, maybe closer to months." He said, agitatedly. "I've managed to get by so far, but now it's getting worse."

"And the absence seizures?" she pressed gently. She could tell she was trying his patience.

"About two weeks." He said, lying down, Ella covered him over with the bedclothes.

"Any physical weakness, dropping objects, hand-eye co-ordination, limbs not working properly?" she prodded.

"My left leg has been dragging a little, sometimes my arms are sluggish to respond. What do you think it is?" he snapped.

"I think it could possibly be a brain tumour, without treatment, it will more than likely be fatal considering the symptoms I've noticed and from what you have told me." Ella said, softly. She moved about and blew out the candles and turned down the lamps to allow Caesar some darkness in which to rest.

"Can you do anything about it? The Autodoc needs a new diagnostic part, but Vulpes said you had medical training." Caesar sounded hopeful. Ella thought for a moment and nodded,

"Yes, I can perform the operation, but there are risks you might not survive." She said, coming to kneel beside his bed.

"If I die during the operation, you will die upon a cross." Caesar said, the pain was evident in the tone of his voice. Ella nodded.

"I understand." She replied, "I will need some surgical tools and equipment from a doctor's bag." Caesar waved her away.

"Get whatever the fuck you need, or get another diagnostic module for the autodoc, either way, just get this damned thing out of my head, take Vulpes with you. Now leave me rest or I'll have you crucified." Ella got to her feet and left Caesar's quarters.

She approached Vulpes.

"My master is resting, I need to speak with you." Vulpes looked at her with narrowed eyes,

"Very well." He said, and indicated to an empty part of Caesar's compound.

When they were alone, Vulpes looked her over, she wore the red dress that Caesar had given her, Vulpes knew that Caesar had taken her to his bed the night before, she didn't care about how he felt about it, all she was concerned about was getting away from the place for a while, even if it meant having to travel with Vulpes, however awkward it would be.

"You are aware of Caesar's condition?" she asked Vulpes.

"Speak with more respect slave." Vulpes said aggressively.

"My apologies, master Vulpes, Caesar has ordered me to perform surgery upon him in order to remove what I suspect is a brain tumour, which has been causing him his recent maladies. The only place that I would think that has the equipment I require is at the Followers of the Apocalypse's New Vegas Medical Clinic." Ella explained,

"What do you need?" Vulpes asked her.

"A set of surgical tools, and equipment form a doctor's bag, supplies of med-x and a couple of stimpacks." She noticed the look on his face, as he was about to protest she held her hand up to stop him before he began.

"I know of his abhorrence to chems, but in this case, if he doesn't get the treatment he will die." she said earnestly.

"I didn't know you cared about him so much." Vulpes said venomously. Ella frowned at him,

"I know I am a trained medic, it would be remiss of the Hippocratic Oath if I let someone suffer." She replied.

"Strange, how many men did you kill, did you let suffer before you remembered that little Oath?" Vulpes said smoothly.

Ella's lips moved into a thin line, showing her agitation with Vulpes' line of questions.

"That was different, when someone is shooting at you, do you just lay down and take it? I could have let you bleed to death right there Vulpes, you just remember that, but no, I carried your unconscious ass over the dry lake and into a facility where I could remove the bullets and heal you, and how did you repay my kindness?" she sneered. Vulpes glowered at her.

"Exactly what do you need?" he asked her.

"I'll need at least 1500 caps, the surgical tools won't be cheap, plus, Caesar wanted you to accompany me on this little journey, so as much as I'd love to be able to go out and do this on my own, Vulpes, my dear, you're coming with me." She smiled.

"We leave within the hour, go and prepare yourself." Vulpes said, turning and leaving her in the empty tent.

_"Oh joy!" _she thought, _"Travelling with the Legion's greatest asshole. I just can't wait."_ She thought to herself. She sighed and quietly re-entered Caesar's tent where she quickly changed out of the dress and back into her leather Armour. She moved over to the bed and checked on Caesar. he reached out and took her hand.

"You will get this thing out of my head." He said to her, it was not a question, but an order.

"Yes, master, I will." Ella assured him, _"Whether you survive or not, that is another matter."_ She added silently.

"Good." He said, bringing her hand to his mouth and kissing it gently. "Return quickly to my side, Ella." He said and let her hand go. It shook her, that he had actually called her by her name instead of 'Courier' or 'Slave'. Surely, there could be no emotion attached to the familiarity he just used with her name?

"Yes, Caesar." she replied, and slipped from his quarters to join Vulpes.


	13. Chapter 13

Ella and Vulpes walked the broken, dusty roads together. They headed north to east Vegas, stopping to rest when the sun dipped below the horizon and it got too dark to travel. Ella laid out her bedroll away from Vulpes, who smiled at her, making her feel very uncomfortable. She laid herself upon the bedroll but couldn't get comfortable. Vulpes' smile kept playing on her mind, and there was something under her bedroll that was sticking into her.

She knew he still desired her, and had no trust to give him whatsoever, nor would she trust herself not to allow what happened last time to happen again. He watched her as she shifted position on the bedroom, trying to get comfortable. She eventually found the culprit, a small rock beneath her bedroll and threw it away in disgust.

Vulpes chuckled at her, she scowled at him. he watched her as she rolled over and took what sleep she could. She moved the slave collar around a little so that it didn't poke her so much. She closed her eyes and tried to let the sounds of the Mojave soothe her to sleep.

Vulpes was haunted by her scent, the memory of the feeling of her, her touch, the feel of her skin, the sensation of his hands running over the scars on her body. The taste of her lips on his tongue, that memory drove him to torment at night. A willing partner the first time, but she more than likely wouldn't be such if he tried to take her again.

By Mars, he was Caesar's loyal Frumentarius, but his lust grew with each moment that he was with her. She was bewitching to be with, the exact opposite of the women that Vulpes had taken for his pleasure in the past, what was it about her that made him wants her so?

He listened to the night, and watched the moon rise over the Mojave as the woman who tormented his senses slept not too far from him.

The next morning, after a restless sleep, Vulpes and Ella moved on from their little camp in the wastes. The sun rose in the east bringing light to the swirls of dust across the Mojave Wasteland.

Vulpes pushed on towards the 188 trading post for a quick break mid-afternoon, Ella looked for Veronica, but knew that her friend would not be there. She hoped that she left with the other members of the Mojave chapter of the Brotherhood of Steel, and was safe. Ella was disguised with a storm chaser's hat covering her collar and a set of sunglasses; she wore a jacket over her leather armour, hiding her tattoo from beneath the one sleeveless side of her armour.

Vulpes wore the same Merc Charmer outfit that he had worn the last time that they had travelled together. For all the evil that he represented, he was an attractive man, and Ella couldn't help but steal glances at him to admire him, catching herself each time and scolding herself silently,

The arrived at the New Vegas Medical Clinic near sundown. Ella entered the familiar medical building, the three guards looked her over quickly and did the same with Vulpes. Dr. Usanagi smiled at her and recognised her once she took her sunglasses off.

"Welcome back, what can I do for you?" she asked, smiling.

"I have a friend who is in need of surgery, he can't get here, and I offered to perform the operation myself, I have the knowledge, I just need the tools." Ella explained. Dr. Usanagi listened to Ella's requirements and was more than happy to help, as Ella was a member of the Followers as well.

"It's nine hundred and ninety-nine caps. They're rare instruments, you understand. And you said you needed a Doctor's bag, some med-x three upper stimpacks and ten regular stims, I think that's it." Dr. Usanagi handed Ella the surgical tools, doctor's bag and the medications. "Good luck and I hope your friend pulls through."

Ella nodded, "So do I." she said, before she and Vulpes departed the Clinic.

As they walked away, returning south, Vulpes spoke up,

"You certainly have made a lot of friends out here in a short time." He observed.

"It's in my nature to want to help others, even if it puts me out." She replied. Vulpes took her by the arm and led her to a wrecked shop, the front and back room of the shop were still standing, stairs led up to a pile of rubble where the top floor had collapsed.

"We'll camp here tonight." He said, "and push on tomorrow back to the Fort." He cleared a space and placed his bedroll on the ground, Ella had little room left but to place her own bedroll beside his.

"You're sure? Don't you think we should push on?" she asked of Vulpes.

"It is getting too dark and Caesar will live another day or so until we return." Vulpes smiled serenely, dangerously. Ella didn't like that look at all, but turned to the small camp fire that she had set and began to cook the evening meal. Vulpes watched her with the look of a predator in his eyes.

Ella had cleaned up after the meal of Brahmin stew and had settled in to sleep. Vulpes lay down beside her. She was aware of his intentions, but had no desire to let him win her again, not so easily. He moved atop her, and pinned her down, unstrapping her jacket and removing it.

The feral light of savage lust shone in his eyes in the firelight, she watched, feeling helpless as he pawed at her better attributes, hurting her, disgracing her with his attentions, she pushed him away but he held up the control to her collar.

"Be a good little slave, and take what Master Vulpes gives you and you will live." He sneered.

"If you kill me, Caesar will die as well." Ella warned him.

"Then Lanius will take over, and it will not be long before he suffers an 'accident' then I will take command of the Legion as Caesar. Though I have no desire to see Caesar dead, I will have my fun with you while I can." Vulpes spoke with conviction as he continued his amorous attentions.

She felt his lips touch the skin of her chest, moving slowly, torturously with deliberate slowness towards her breasts. Her breathing began to quicken.

"Please, don't do this." She begged him.

"Ah, you beg me, poor little slave, you have no control in this situation, nor do you have a say in what I do to you tonight, but I warn you, as before, should you breathe a word to Caesar, I will deny it, and he will believe me over you. He trusts me, you see." Vulpes purred as he brought his hands down to her waist and began to undo her leather pants.

"A trust that is entirely misplaced in that you eagerly rape his slaves behind his back." Ella spat.

Vulpes smiled as he pulled the pants from her waist and down her legs. He looked at her body with pure admiration and lust on his face,

"Perhaps I need to teach you a lesson in prudence? It is after all one of the virtues of a slave that you should have been taught, had the new Slavemaster taken you for training rather than Caesar himself." He leaned forward so that his face was right above hers. She felt the hardness between his legs, his undeniable passion and urges to take her where she lay.

She spat at him. "How's that for prudence you son-of-a-bitch?" she glowered.

Vulpes wiped the spittle from his face, "For that, you will pay, I was going to be gentle with you, but now, after that, you won't be able to walk properly for a week!" he said, he drew his fist back and slammed it into her face.

She tried desperately to defend herself from his blows, but he grabbed her hands and held them by the wrist one-handed while he struck her with his free hand. She was semi-conscious when he finally entered her, forcing himself into her most intimate place, roughly enjoying himself at her expense. She was dimly aware of him pushing himself deeper and deeper into her, she allowed herself to drift away to another, happier place while he raped her.

She awoke bruised and bloodied, and in supreme pain. The pain she felt in her face was nothing compared to what he had done to her between her legs. Vulpes slept beside her, his arm around her middle. Why did the two men who had raped her want to cuddle after the event? Honestly, the men of the Legion were a supreme mystery; perhaps they wanted the comfort of a warm woman after the deed. She slipped his arm from her middle and moved stiffly and slowly to the supplies, she checked over the medical gear, and quickly, secretly applied a stimpack and some Med-X, the effects were instant, the pain dulled and the healing chems began to work their pre-war magic.

She sighed as she washed the blood from her face with a bottle of water, and dressed quickly in the pre-dawn glow. She prepared a small meal for breakfast and waited for Vulpes to awaken.

She watched him as he slept _"I hate you, I hate you, I HATE YOU."_ Her thoughts began to get savage, as she envisioned each and every way that she could kill him while he slept. Unfortunately, before she could bring her dreams to reality, Vulpes began to awaken.

Her battered face was the first thing he saw when he woke up, she was dressed and had cleaned up from the night before. Vulpes packed away his bedroll and quickly ate the meal that she had prepared, like a good Slave. He hoped that her bruises would heal before they returned to Caesar; he could just explain that she was belligerent, and Caesar would understand and accept. He shouldered his backpack and waited for her to gather the medical supplies and her bedroll.

"Let's go Slave." Vulpes ordered her. They moved out together, Ella moving a little stiffly still, some of her pain burning through the dulling effects of the Med-X


	14. Chapter 14

They arrived back at the landing at the Blue paradise shacks a few days later. Ella's face had lost almost all of its swelling, but there were still a few bluish bruises showing upon her cheeks. She did not look at Lucullus, who paid her no heed in turn, she was beneath his notice. The only time she had spoken to him was when she had first gone across the river to the Fort to meet Caesar at his invitation.

The raft ferrying Ella and Vulpes arrived at the Fort upon dusk, Ella was exhausted and Vulpes looked tired from their journey as well. As they approached Caesar's tent, Lucius approached them with a look of concern. He took the two aside to speak with them alone,

"Caesar sleeps, and does not awaken, I fear that death will claim him soon. Do you have the necessary items for his operation?" he asked, looking from Vulpes to Ella, he squinted a little at Ella's bruises but said nothing.

"We do." Ella confirmed, ignoring the sharp look from Vulpes.

"Then go and heal him." Lucius said, grabbing her by the arm and pushing her towards Caesar's tent. He stopped briefly, and turned back to Vulpes. "I require the control for her collar, upon Caesar's orders, if his heart stops, then her head gets taken from her shoulders." He held his hand out while Vulpes deactivated her collar and handed the head Praetorian Guard the control.

He marched Ella to the tents and through the open-air throne room to Caesar's quarters.

Caesar lay pale upon his bed; his breathing was slower than it should normally be at rest. For all he exhaustion, Ella knew she had no choice but to save him if she wanted to live on herself. She took a moment to compose herself. Did she want to live under this tyrant's will and desires until he tired of her and had her lashed to a cross? Did she want to be the prey that Vulpes took at every chance he got? No, she didn't want any of that, she wanted to be back out in the Mojave with Boone, Cass, Arcade, Raul, Veronica, Lilly and Rex, her friends and people she cared for and who, in turn cared for her. She didn't want the Legion to win and take over the Mojave.

She had to right the wrongs of the past, like she had helped Boone to do at Bitter Springs. She had to escape the first chance she got.

But first things first, she had to save the life of a tyrannical dictator who had such disdain for women that they were little better than property within his society, nothing better than used as propagators of the species, breeders for more Legionaries.

She scrubbed up and had the men prop Caesar up on some pillows so she could get better access to his head. She used the x-ray function on the Autodoc to locate the tumour on the right hemisphere of Caesar's brain. At least that part of the machine worked, though she and everyone in the room was getting a healthy dose of radiation according to her Pip-boy's Geiger-counter, but that nothing new in the irradiated ruins of the world today.

She carefully cut into Caesar's skull after giving him a double dose of Med-X, placing the section of bone she had removed in a bowl of clean, purified water and peeled away the protective membranes that covered the grey matter beneath, carefully folding them over. She could see part of the tumour through the curls of brain. She took up a scalpel and began to carefully remove it.

Vulpes came up beside her and watched with interest.

"Never seen a man's brains before Vulpes?" Ella said tersely.

Vulpes smiled, "Not while the man still lives, I have not." He said.

"I hope it's educational for you, but I need you to get out of my way." She said, as she placed a part of the tumour into another bowl. She looked around the cavity that the tumour had created and cleared as much as she could see of it hopefully the pressure upon Caesar's brain would now be released, allowing him to return to a normal functionality. There was always the chance of a regrowth, or another tumour growing, but Caesar would have to deal with that on his own, she hoped she would be long gone by then.

She carefully covered the brain with the protective membranes and replaced the section of skull that she had removed,

"Wonderglue…" she said, holding her hand out for the glue.

"What?" Vulpes asked her, curiously."

"Wonderglue, so I can put the piece of skull back in place without it slipping." She replied.

"You are serious?" Vulpes was amazed that she had even suggested using Wonderglue.

"Yes, Vulpes. I am serious. They don't call it 'Wonderglue' for nothing; it will bond the bone sections together until such a time as the bone heals itself, amazing stuff you should try it sometime to shut that mouth of yours." She said snappishly, she was tired, and stressed, she hoped her patient would wake, mainly for her sake.

Vulpes roughly handed her a tube of Wonderglue.

"You will be disciplined for that remark later." He warned her.

She looked at him, "Fine, once I've finished here, shall I report for my punishment to you, or wait until Caesar wakes up?"

Lucius entered the tent before Vulpes could reply, a chain and leather collar with a lock in his hands.

"Caesar had ordered that if his operation was a success, you were to be chained to his bed until he awoke, I assume that he still lives?" he asked her.

Ella began to stitch together the flap of scalp that she had cut in order to gain access to Caesar's skull.

"My head is still on its shoulders, isn't it?" she asked, turning her head to meet Lucius's eye. He narrowed his eyes and attached the collar to her neck.

"What the hell, couldn't you wait until I've finished here and cleaned up?" Lucius smiled,

"Vulpes, you can take the bitch out for a walk." He smiled, handing Vulpes the chain.

"Oh ha-ha, _very_ funny." Ella retorted.

"And you can teach her a lesson in respect." Lucius said as he deactivated her slave collar and removed it, smiling wickedly; Vulpes' face reflected the smile.

"Fuck." Ella said beneath her breath.

"What was that _slave?_" Lucius snarled.

"I said 'Fuck' _master_ Lucius." Ella replied as she tied off the thread and put the needle down. She turned to Lucius, who backhanded her across the face hard, she fell backwards with the blow and was caught by Vulpes.

"The next time I hit you, you will really feel it. Until Caesar has returned to consciousness, Vulpes is in charge, when you return, you will remain with the Emperor until he wakes." Lucius turned and left her with Vulpes and the stable, but unconscious Caesar.

"Don't worry, I will be gentle this time." He said, caressing her shoulders.

"I need to clean up and use the bathroom." Ella said to Vulpes. He turned her loose and sat down,

"Clean up then, and when this place is clean, then you can use a bathroom." He sat and watched her as she moved about, gathering the surgical equipment and cloths that she had used. She felt his gaze upon her and hated him even more; she hoped that he wouldn't dare to take her within the confines of the camp, where his transgressions could be discovered.

The clink of the chain was a constant companion, as was Vulpes as they went to a wash area and she cleaned up. Vulpes then escorted her to the Weather monitoring station, where her heart began to sink; the sneaky son-of-a-bitch just couldn't help himself.

"Out, I require this room to interrogate this slave." He ordered the Praetorian Guards who were posted here.

"Do you require any assistance, Vulpes?" one asked.

"No, I can manage one slave. I am not to be disturbed" He replied, Ella lowered her head; the chain clinked in response to her motion. The Praetorian Guards moved out without questioning Vulpes, which Ella found strange. Once the Guards had left, Vulpes turned his attention to her.

"Undress." He ordered her softly, dangerously.

"Go to Hell." She said, just as dangerously.

"Most likely, that I shall. But first, I will enjoy myself while I can." He said, he pulled sharply on the chain, forcing her towards him.

He grabbed her by the throat and pushed her backwards towards one of the two desks in the room.

"I will only ask you once more, nicely. Undress." He moved closer to her, so that his face was mere inches from her own.

_"Goddamn you Vulpes!"_ her mind screamed she took a deep breath and began to remove the leather jacket of her Armour that she still wore from their journey across the Mojave. Vulpes stood back and watched her as she removed her leather clothing.

She stood there before him in her underwear. He looked over her body, remembering each and every curve and how it fit with his body the first and second times he had been with her. he reached up and caressed a breast, feeling the warmth of her through the bra she wore. He reached around her back and unfastened the garment, sliding the straps from her shoulders, over the Tattoo proclaiming her as Caesars slave for eternity.

Vulpes appreciated the delicious forbidden fruit he was about to enjoy. The danger of being caught pushed the adrenalin through his veins and brought his lust for this exquisite slave to his loins. He pressed his open mouth against hers and kissed her, forcing her mouth open and pressing his tongue against hers, she moved back a step or two, stopping at the desk behind her. he moved his roaming hands down to her leather pants, and began to remove them.

She tried to wriggle away from him when she was stopped by the desk, but he pressed against her, pinning her against the desk, he moved his hands down under her buttocks and lifted her into a sitting position up onto the desk. He broke away from her lips to whisper.

"Not a sound, not a peep or you'll regret it." He said, smoothly, and with great lust

She sat there, naked upon the desk as he pushed himself into her. A sob broke from her lips at the pain and humiliation that he once again inflicted upon her. He placed a hand over her mouth to quieten her, with his other hand he pulled her closer into him as he found his rhythm within her. Ella looked into the fluorescent lights behind his moving head, thinking of Boone, and wondering where he would be, wishing that she was with him, and far away from the monster who raped her.

_"Oh, Boone, can you ever forgive me?"_ her heart cried out in misery.


	15. Chapter 15

Vulpes finished with an impassioned moan; he gripped her shoulders hard, causing her pain. He disengaged from her and stepped back. Ella sat upon the desk, naked and trembling with anguish and shame.

"Vulpes, you sly dog, since when did your interrogation techniques involve raping Caesar's personal slave?" Lucius revealed himself, stepping out into the open.

Vulpes looked to the Praetorian and smiled dangerously,

"I assume that since you are the only one here, and I am not in your custody you will not be telling Caesar?" Vulpes said, observantly.

"Not this time, but if you touch her again, I will personally drag you before him and inform him of your transgressions. Now get out, I will return the Slave to her proper place, beside her master." Vulpes glared at Lucius and left the building.

Lucius picked up Ella's clothing and moved to stand before the weeping slave.

"Get dressed." He ordered her curtly, his eyes passing quickly over her huddled form.

Ella took her clothes and quickly dressed while Lucius watched. She felt filthy, dirty, and disgusting despite her recent bath in the river. When she was dressed she stood before Lucius,

"If he touches you again, you are to come directly to me, do you understand?" he took up the chain that hung from the collar around her neck.

"Yes, Master Lucius, I understand." Ella said softly.

"You better, if I discover that you willingly gave yourself to him, I will have you upon a cross with the other degenerate slaves. Now I will return you to Caesar's bedside where you will remain until he awakens" He moved away, pulling the chain taught, giving Ella no choice but to follow.

Lucius attached the chain to Caesar's bed and left her with the comatose dictator and an Honour guard of four Praetorians. She checked Caesar's pulse and breathing. It had returned to a close-to-normal state, giving her hope that he would regain consciousness soon, if not in the next day or two.

Caesar had not awoken the next day, Ella stripped him and bathed him under the watchful eyes of his Guards. She watched the reaction of his skin as she passed the damp cloth over his flesh, goosebumps arose with the coolness as the fresh air met the damp skin. As she wiped his face and scalp he moaned a little, but did not respond to Ella when she spoke to him.

A Praetorian guard would bring her food and take her to the bathroom, over the next two days while she kept her forced bedside vigil. She didn't see Vulpes at all during that time, which to her was a great mercy. She wanted the man dead for what he had put her through, but a little part of her kept telling herself that if she had fought the urges that night in the Vault, she wouldn't be in this mess with Vulpes.

All through her vigil she was somewhat bored, there was only so many times that you could really have a need to check upon one's patient, otherwise it was overkill and combating boredom. She didn't engage the honour guard in conversation, knowing that they would not be interested in speaking with a lowly slave, even the personal slave of Caesar. she finished the day with giving Caesar another sponge bath.

She awoke the next morning to find that Caesar had rolled over in his bed and had taken her hand in his sleep, Ella had gone to sleep sitting against the bed, her head resting upon her arm, her hand raised just above the mattress. Caesar had found her hand in his sleep and had taken hold of her. His grip was solid and strong which was a great sign, and she had a little trouble disentangling her fingers from his.

When she sat up, she noticed his eyes were open and following her.

"Master, can you hear me?" She asked him, taking his hand again.

Caesar smiled, "Of course I can, and my head is free of the headaches, I assume you got the tumour out?" he said, slowly sitting up. Ella nodded as she helped him into his sitting position as Lucius was sent for by one of the Praetorian Guard.

"Water." Caesar ordered, Ella turned with her chain clinking and reached for the pitcher and a glass that stood ready upon a side table. She poured out a glass and handed it to Caesar, who drank it quickly and nodded for a refill.

He finished the second glass and turned to the courier-turned-slave who had saved his life. He reached out and caressed her face. She was a beautiful woman, and it pleased him to possess her.

"Master, if I may, I need to check your cognition and reflexes." She said carefully, as one did not order Caesar around, let alone a slave. Caesar saw the wisdom in her request and nodded his ascent.

"Please follow my finger with your eyes only." Ella said, holding up a forefinger and moving it from side to side. Caesar's head moved with his eyes, Ella gently placed her hand upon his chin to hold him still. "Just your eyes, please Master." She said, and removed her hand. He followed her finger with his eyes. She then moved to his feet, "Can you feel the pressure I'm applying on your feet?" she asked, pressing down on each toe with thumb and forefinger.

"Yes." Caesar answered, "I can."

"Excellent, now, touch each finger on your left hand to your thumb and then do the same with your right hand, like this." She said, demonstrating the actions. She watched as he progressed through the exercise almost flawlessly. "Now both together." She asked, watching as he moved both hands quickly.

"I think we're good," Ella said, confidently, "I believe it was a success, though there's always the chance of regrowth, or more tumours appearing, I think you can stand up if you're up to it." She said, getting to her feet, and offering her hands to help the Emperor to his feet, Caesar took the woman's hands and hefted himself to his feet. She was suddenly overcome by a dizzy spell, and fell forward into Ella's arms. She held him upright, taking his weight with her slight frame.

"Baby steps master, take it easy. You've been in a coma for about four days now, you're a little weak from not eating, we gave you water when we could. Lucius arrived with a tray of food, Ella helped Caesar back to a more dignified standing position and helped him to the table, or at least as far as her chain would allow. The guards took over in assisting the shaky dictator to his seat at the table. Lucius placed the food before his Lord and awaited his orders while his master ate.

Ella listened while Caesar received updates from his officers, she could see he was getting tired again, she had told him to take it easy, but of course, stubborn like many males she had known in her life, he had gotten back into planning and running his war against the NCR and the Mojave.

She was still chained to his bed when he returned to rest, she helped him into the soft mattress and covered him over. Caesar took her hand and pulled her down to sit upon the bed.

He ran his hands up and down her bare arms, she once again wore the dress that he had given her.

"I dreamt of you while I slept." Caesar admitted Ella didn't know what to make of Caesar's admission; she sat there while he held her hands. "You were running from me, and I chased you. When I finally caught you, I awoke to find that I had your hand in mine." He reached up and placed his hand behind her head, and pulled her down to him. Their lips met, gently this time, his passionate embrace grew stronger as he held her to him.

Ella's defences slowly dropped, she began to respond to Caesar's attentions. She knew that sex could be a wonderful thing between two people, she'd had enough fantastic one-nighters during her time as a Courier, before Benny had shot her to know this, but past experiences with men of the Legion had shown her that the enjoyment was one-sided. He rolled her over onto her back on the bed, the covers still separating them.

Caesar moved the covers and brought his slave into his bed with him. He gently and passionately kissed her. Even in his comatose dreams she was there with him, her scent, her feel, her warmth, she'd been inside his head, both in the physical world and within his mind. She was his Courier, his Slave, and she had willingly given herself to him in exchange for the lives of her friends.

He had not thought of the repercussions of her actions, nor his decision to accept her offer to be his personal slave. Nor did he expect the beautiful Courier to have grown on him so much. There had been other slaves to share his bed, but none like the woman who lay beneath him.

He knew he had been quite rough with her their first night together, he was not sorry for it as she needed to know who was her Master, especially after she had kicked him in the balls when he had first tried to take her to his bed.

He gently moved a hand down her leg, grabbing at the material of her dress and pulling it up over her hips, his hand seeking the soft flesh beneath. He felt her move against him as he gently touched and caressed her, she did not protest, she did not struggle or push away from him, she gave herself to him.

Ella's mind was racing as Caesar continued to kiss and caress her body, each time the Praetorian Guard had taken her out to use the bathroom, she had made observations, places where the line of sight of the guards were poor at certain times of the day or night, she noticed shift changes, guard patrol movements, the movements of slaves as they worked around the camp. She trusted no-one, not even the other slaves.

She had to be careful, as Siri had warned her once of what the Legion did to slaves who were caught escaping, for her plan to work, she had to gain Caesar's trust enough that he would allow her to go about the camp unescorted, it would take time, she knew, but how much time she had before Legate Lanius returned from whatever campaign Caesar had send the Monster of the East on, she did not know.


	16. Chapter 16

Caesar's recovery was swift; Ella was impressed that despite the tumour, his general health was excellent, especially for a man of his age. She moved around his quarters, stripping the bed and generally cleaning up. Other slaves worked quietly in the other sections of Caesar's tents, preparing tables for a dinner in his honour, for it was Caesar's birthday. The main bulk of slaves would have a half day off, provided that all their work was finished by the time the celebrations began, while a select few would serve at Caesar's private party.

Lucius entered with a package wrapped in paper and a small box sat on top, he placed it upon the table that Ella had just cleaned.

"Caesar wishes you to wear this tonight." He said, and left the tent. Ella wiped her hands clean of dust and opened the package. Within was the dress formerly owned by Vera Keyes, Ella knew that the only way that Caesar could have gotten this, was to have had his men go to the Motel room in Novac and search her things. She had found two sets of the dress in her time at the Sierra Madre. It was an elegant creation from before the war, and fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on how one looked at the situation, Ella was about the same size as Vera. She hoped that this particular version was not the one she had taken from Vera's corpse.

She held the dress in front of her, the skirts cascading down almost to the floor. A pair of dress shoes was also within the package. She put these aside, and draped the dress over the back of the chair, before she inspected the box that had come with the package. There was a hairbrush, bony pins and a make-up set within, along with a choker necklace, it was obviously a special piece, as it had a small golden bull, Caesar's emblem upon a thick ribbon of red silk.

She heard a noise at the entry to Caesar's quarters, Caesar stood there, watching her.

"I see you have my gifts." He observed.

"Yes, master, thank-you." Ella said demurely. Caesar moved to stand before her. He reached up and caressed the side of her face.

"I am glad they please you, as I hope you will please me in return tonight." He smiled at her. Ella nodded,

"My master is too kind, giving his slave gifts on his birthday." She took his hand from her face and brought it to her lips. She gently kissed his knuckles. "I am eternally grateful." Caesar gripped her hand,

"Good, now come, I would have you with me when I give my men their gift for their loyalty." He led Ella out to the Throne room and through to the exit. They approached the edge of the hill, which overlooked the Arena, from where Caesar had watched Ella take her lashes as punishment for warning the Brotherhood of Steel to evacuate the Mojave, and for her personal attack on Caesar.

Within the Arena, there were a large group of women, all dressed in rags, all frightened, sobbing, crying, and some just staring into space with terror. Outside the Arena, soldiers had formed up in perfect lines, their Decanus and Centurions stood before their soldiers awaiting Caesar.

Caesar took Ella's arm and held her. He raised his other arm and addressed the gathered soldiers.

"My loyal Legionaries! Today is my birthday, I will celebrate by rewarding my loyal soldiers, Within the Arena are one hundred Slave girls, and they are there for your pleasure. Enjoy them with my blessing." He lowered his hand to indicate to the guards at the Arena's gate to open the gates and start handing out the slaves. The women within the Arena screamed and sobbed while the soldiers cheered Caesar.

Ella took an involuntary step back in horror as the Legionaries moved to take their slaves, Centurions took pick of the more beautiful women first, then letting the rest of the men take their pick. Caesar's grip on her arm tightened, he could feel her tense and tremble with the anger she felt at the injustice of the treatment that these women were receiving.

He leaned in and whispered, "I can arrange for you to be down there with them if you don't get a hold of yourself." He heard her take a deep breath and force her anger down. She stopped trembling and tried to relax, but he still felt the tension in her stance. She lowered her head and closed her eyes to the sights of the women being dragged away screaming to the array of tents. She opened her eyes when she felt Caesar pulling at her arm, to move back to the command tents. She went with great relief, but the sounds of the men of the Legion raping their victims followed her.

Caesar returned her to his quarters, the slaves had finished setting up the dining tables, and he bade her to prepare for the evening's party. Ella looked at the dress with a renewed hatred; her position was still precarious, depending on Caesar's moods and whims. She undressed and quickly washed herself down, before changing into the beautiful pre-war gown.

There was a small hand mirror in the box with the makeup and hairbrush, which she took out and checked herself out in the gown. The left side of the dress had a split in the side, trimmed with red satin, topped at the hip with a large red rosette in the same material. The shoulder straps were also trimmed in the red satin. The black dress fit her nicely, she put the mirror against the box so she could see the dress in full, running her hands down her hourglass figure, she smoothed the dress down her body, the gown felt luxurious on her body, far too good a garment to be used on her, but it still felt good all the same.

_"It's not so bad."_ She thought to herself, before she caught the train of thought, _"Don't get sucked in by his mind games, he'll have you upon a cross at his whim, concentrate on getting the fuck out of here!_" She returned to the bod and took out the brush and bobby pins. She worked her hair into a style to compliment the dress, and pinned it into place. She reached into the box and took out the choker, tying it around her neck, and making sure the little golden bull was at the front of her throat.

Caesar returned to his quarters to find Ella was almost ready. She was applying makeup to her eyelids, her lips had been reddened with lipstick, and the dress fit her perfectly. He came up quietly behind her and gently ran a hand up her exposed leg as she finished with the eye shadow.

He was pleased with what she had achieved with the gifts he had given her. She had made herself into an exquisite creature, worthy of being his concubine, for his pleasure. He would be proud to have her upon his arm to show off tonight, and even more pleased to have her in his bed after the party.

She turned to face him he smiled at her with appreciation in his eyes. Ella bobbed her head in deference to Caesar. "Master." She said in greeting.

"You are almost perfect my dear, just one more detail to add." He said, leaning in towards her. He reached behind her, while he stared into her deep, doe like eyes and took something off the table. He leaned back and gently held her by the shoulder so she would not move, with the red lipstick she had applied to her lips; he drew a large red "X" upon her chest within the neckline of the dress. Caesar admired his handiwork, and looked back into her eyes,

"There, perfect." He said, replacing the lipstick and leaning in to kiss his slave.

The spread of food was quite a feast; outside the noise of raping had diminished while Caesar and his invited guests enjoyed the celebration of Caesar's birthday. Ella was upon his arm the entire night, Caesar was showing her off to each of his guests, making her show them the tattoo he had put upon her shoulder.

She served Caesar's meal at the dinner, and sat behind him to await his orders. She was allowed to eat only after every man had finished his own meal, and was sent to Caesar's quarters to eat, when she had finished, a Praetorian Guard told her to stay there and await Caesar's return. Ella handed her plate to one of the waiting slaves and sat down upon the edge of His bed to await him.

She listened to the chatter and noise within the Throne room where Caesar's party was winding down. She had seen Vulpes at the party, but he had not looked at her, he had only spoken to Caesar briefly, before he returned to another guest, much to her relief.

She heard Caesar bid goodnight to the last of his guests, she listened as he spoke to his guard, ordering them not to disturb him for the rest of the evening unless it was extremely urgent. Ella got to her feet before he entered his quarters. She awaited his pleasure, as he moved around, turning down the lamps and blowing out the candles within the tent, bringing the once bright lights to dimness.

He came up behind her and slid his hands around her middle; he gently moved her to his bed and sat down, bringing her with him. He reached up and removed the bobby pins from her hair, allowing it to fall about her shoulders, framing her pretty face. She was young enough to be his daughter, but he had had younger women before, none so alluring or enticing as the Courier, and he had sent each back to their proper place after he had his enjoyment.

He took up a cloth and wiped the lipstick marks from her chest, she sat still for him, he watched her face, it was serene and accepting of what was to come, not expectant as a lover would be, but then, she was his concubine, there for his pleasure, for him to use. Her skin was soft and warm where his fingers made contact away from the cloth; she took a deep breath, a sigh, as he pulled the straps of the dress from her shoulders and pulled the dress down over her torso revealing the fullness of her bosom encased within her bra.

With quick and nimble fingers, Caesar unfastened her bra and removed it revealing her breasts. She was in the flush of womanhood, beauty, grace, a Scholar and a Warrior all rolled into one perfect package. She was dangerous, he knew, but he believed that he had her under his control now. She didn't resist him anymore, he had noticed, pleased that she had accepted his absolute rule over her.

As he took her in his arms and into his bed that night, he would have no idea that by morning, she would be gone without a trace.


	17. Chapter 17

In the early hours of the morning, Ella slipped from Caesar's sleeping embrace and quickly and quietly moved around his Quarters. She found the items she was looking for and pocketed them, before finding and changing into a simple slave dress and tied a scarf around her head to hide her hair, she rubbed some dirt into her face to complete her disguise. She slipped out under the tent wall and into Caesar's elite camp. She grabbed a box and carried it as cover for her disguise towards the gates to the main camp, where she was not so recognisable. The sounds of men snoring, and women weeping from within the tents she passed surrounding her.

Fortune favoured her, as did her timing. She crossed undiscovered into the main camp as the guard were changing, but she knew she would not have much time to make good her escape before the light of dawn brought the discovery of her escape. She moved through the camp past the few men on guard patrol, not one questioned a slave working late. She did not regret leaving this place, but she regretted having to leave Rex behind, the Cyberdog had taken to sleeping beside her and she would miss his friendly canine company.

She made it to the river, after dropping the box off with a group of other boxes which looked similar to what she was carrying, and began to sneak away from the camp to the river, snatching up an unguarded Machete which was just lying about. She checked the items were secure in her pocket and moved slowly into the water, trying not to make a noise. The water was cold, almost paralysing, but she forced herself to move onwards towards the far shore and freedom. She moved as quickly as she could without making too much noise, or causing a wake to form behind her. She collapsed, exhausted on the western shore, having swam downstream and away from the Fort for hours before the lightening of the eastern horizon forced her to complete her crossing. She crawled up and out of the water. A slight incline was the only way up and away from the Riverbank.

Back at the Fort, Caesar stood before the table he had just overturned in a fit of rage, pages of reports scattered over the floor, Rex scrambled back and away from Caesar's rage

"Find her, now!" he shouted, Vulpes nodded,

"If she is still in the camp, we will find her. If she's not, I will scour the Mojave and bring her back to you myself." He promised his master, before indicating to two of his Frumentarii who had accompanied him to begin the search for Caesar's Slave

She moved with stealth, checking every open area before she moved out, finally making her way to the Snyder prospector camp, where she rested briefly, knowing that the area had more than a few Legion patrols running around on general Legion business – Capture, Pillage, Rape, Kill, and generally strike the fear of the Legion into the Mojave.

"See that you bring her back alive, I want to make her beg for mercy before I kill her myself." Caesar growled, pure fury flaming in his eyes.

She found a dead mercenary near the camp, a fresh kill for the Legion, she quickly removed the dead man's clothes and changed out of the slave garb she wore. She checked the merc's weapon, a cowboy repeater, but there were only 12 rounds left, she'd have to make every one of them count. She pocketed his small amount of caps, his meds and the half-empty bottle of whiskey. She checked her Pip-Boy to confirm she was going in the right direction and continued on to the north, now she was disguised a bit better, she moved a bit easier, but still kept her wits about her.

The ricochet off the ground and the puff of dust was the first warning that she was being fired at, she dove for cover behind a large boulder and risked a look at her attackers, a group of three Legionaries were advancing on her, weapons drawn and aimed at her rock.

"Ah, shit." She muttered, she'd been gone almost two days, and of course Caesar would have men looking for her, but she doubted that these men would be after her. To them she was just another merc to kill.

She brought her weapon up to aim at the lead legionary she took a breath and touched the trigger, she carefully squeezed it, the weapon fired and the first man went down screaming with a gunshot wound to the leg. She reloaded and lined up the next legionary, but before she could fire, his head exploded in a mess of red, an eyeball bounced its way along the dusty ground and stopped to rest against her foot. Before she knew what was going on, the last Legionary dissolved into a puddle of green goo. Ella raised her weapon, searching for the other combatants.

A figure stood up on a rock, the sunlight blinding Ella as she looked up to the person.

A woman in a broad brimmed cowboy hat and sporting a Caravan shotgun, she struck a familiar pose.

"Holy fucking shit." Cass said as she jumped down from the rock she had perched upon to see who the Legion was hunting. "Here we are out hunting shitheads and look who we just happen to come across!" she opened her arms out wide and embraced Ella.

Ella hugged her friend hard, tears threatening to spill from her eyes.

Arcade came out from his hiding spot, his Plasma defender still cooling in his hand.

"Well, I'll be. What, did Caesar get tired of your ceaseless questions?" he smiled and hugged her.

"Nah, got sick of the company I kept, so I granted myself leave, I am thinking I'm going to go AWOL for a while, might make it permanent." Ella smiled, failing to keep her tears at bay. Cass reached in to her bag and pulled out some of her home made whiskey. She took off the lid and handed it to Ella.

"Don't you go spilling no tears in there, you'll spoil a good batch." She said, trying to keep the tough girl act up, but not doing a very good job of it, so glad that she was to find her friend was still alive and now free.

Ella took a swig of the rough whiskey and coughed. "Cass, your good batch is the same as a bad batch." She said, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand as the whiskey burned her throat.

"Come on, let's get back to camp." Arcade said, and holstered his pistol. The trio moved out quickly to the south, ranging around the Legion's raid camp and avoiding the other Legion patrols. They arrived at Wolfhorn Ranch mid-afternoon. A familiar red Beret could be seen up on the sandbagged lookout. Boone ran down the steps, almost tripping over himself to come to her he scooped her up on his arms and held her tight.

"I never thought I'd see you again, I wanted to come back for you." He held her tight, and looked from her smiling face to the others, "They had to hold me down and stop me from firing on the legion and swimming out to get you back. I'm sorry." From behind his shades, she could feel the hurt he was feeling. She reached up and gently caressed his face.

"Boone, it's all right, it's not your fault." Ella said, tears running down her face, she absently reached up to wipe them away as Boone set her down on her feet again and gently wiped her tears away for her. His touch was magical and it brought a sparkle back to her eyes that had been missing the past months of her captivity. He smiled at her softly, the affection he held for her clear on his face.

"Hey! What's going on...?" Veronica's voice came floating on the air from the building on the hill, Ella heard the door close and footsteps accompanied by a familiar buzzing noise and a happy beeping as ED-E floated down to her and flew around her head in excited circles, bobbing up and down all the way

"Ella!" Veronica cried out happily, followed by Raul's shout of

"Boss, you're alive!" the Ghoul and the Brotherhood of Steel Scribe both rushed to her and embraced her, her heart soared, back with friends who loved her.

"You got ED-E working again?" Ella said, surprised. Raul and Veronica smiled at each other,

"Yeah, well, parts were hard to come by, but Raul here is just about as good as me with technology, and Knight Lorenzo helped out a bit before the Chapter got out of Hidden valley." Veronica explained.

Ella looked concerned, "Where did they all go?" she asked Veronica,

"We split up, there's a couple of places where we can go, plus we found an abandoned Vault, weird place, got blue rooms and red rooms, but we can mostly fit, it's a tight squeeze, some of the others have gone to the safe-house, and an abandoned bunker near the river, so we're still technically in the Mojave, just not as visible right now, but we're still in business!" the young woman smiled.

Ella looked around, "Where's Lilly?" she asked.

"She went back to Jacobstown, which is probably better for her to be there, she wanted to get Marcus and the others to storm the Fort and get you back, but then her mind got muddled up on something and we convinced her to go back to Jacobstown, she wanted to help Dr Henry with the research." Arcade explained. Ella nodded, she missed Lilly, the Nightkin former Vault dweller and grandmother was a force of her own.

"So, what now?" Cass said, taking a swig of her whiskey, and then passing it around the group.

"Now," Ella said, "We make it so Caesar doesn't get anywhere close to New Vegas, we won't even let him get a sniff at the Dam this time."

"How exactly are we going to do that? There's only a few of us, and the NCR isn't as strong as it used to be." Arcade said observantly.

Ella dug into the pocket of her armour and pulled out the Platinum Chip, she held it in her fingers, all eyes were on it.

"I got a side bet to place with a friend I met when I dealt with Benny." She smiled, the Platinum chip glinted in the sunshine.


	18. Chapter 18

Vulpes stalked her through the Vault's rusty corridors, she moved quickly and silently, but so did he, she turned left and ran, she came to an intersection and turned right before her was a dead end, two doors to the sides.

She desperately tried the first door, it wouldn't budge, she pressed on the override bar, it still wouldn't move. She ran to the second door, the same result. Like a giant rat, she was trapped.

He casually walked around the corner, light shone from behind him so that only his silhouette and not his features could be made out. Ella stopped trying to haul on the door's override bar and backed away from the approaching Vulpes.

Fear coursed through her veins and the rapidity of her heartbeat thundered through her ears. Vulpes reached up and removed the coyote's head hood that he wore. Ella gasped; it was not Vulpes, but Caesar who approached her. Blood trickled down the sides of his face from the golden leaf crown where it pressed into his flesh. His face framed in crimson, he smiled.

"_Aeternit Servus Caesar_" he said softly, "You are mine forever!" he said, reaching out to her, his hands bloodied.

Ella screamed, fighting the dream with fists, she connected with something warm and fleshy. Boone fell back, holding his cheek.

"Ella!" he called out to her struggling form. "Wake up, you're safe, it's okay!" Ella's eyes opened and she stopped screaming. The blanket had wrapped itself around her body tightly, causing her to feel constricted. She sat there in Boone's bedding, trembling and sobbing.

Boone carefully and gently placed his arms around her shoulders. She leaned into him and cried while he held her.

"It's all right, you're safe here with me, and he can't hurt you anymore." Boone had an inkling as to what she had gone through.

While on watch earlier that evening Ella had come and sat with him in the lookout. She hadn't said anything about her enslavement, and he hadn't pressed her for information on the subject. She just sat there on the wooden boards that made up the floor of the lookout and watched the wastes with him.

They had set about planning their trip to New Vegas, Cass and Arcade had gone to Primm and Goodsprings to gather supplies while Raul and Veronica headed to Novac to see if there was anything of Ella's left in the motel room there, from there they would make contact with the scattered members of the Brotherhood of Steel and meet at the Lucky 38. ED-E was on standby mode so it was just Ella and Boone at the ranch that night.

Boone gently stroked Ella's hair as she sobbed in his arms. She held on to him with a strength that she didn't recall having, it was as if she let go of him, he would fade away and she would wake up in Caesar's tent. She looked up at the former Sniper. His face handsome in the light of the lanterns. She reached up and gently touched the stubble on his chin; he was warm and not unfamiliar.

Boone smiled softly and gently took her hand in his and kissed it before he placed her hand back in her lap. He held her in his warm embrace, comforting her. She was soon sleeping peacefully. Boone felt tired too, he sent ED-E out to patrol the perimeter, knowing that the eyebot's sensors were better than his eyesight. Boone snuggled down beside Ella, sharing the warmth and company of the woman who had sacrificed her freedom and her dignity so he could go free from the Legion that he so hated.

Ella awoke the next morning still fully clothed and snuggled into Boone's chest, she heard his heartbeat within his chest and smiled, he moved slightly in his sleep. Ella got up and walked out to the outhouse and did what one normally does first thing in the morning.

She left the outhouse and stretched away her stiff muscles relishing her freedom. She looked to the east where the sun was cresting the distant hills. She wondered how Rex was going, missing his friendly canine companionship.

Her scent was a few days old, Rex's search mode was enabled he cut back and forth along the western bank of the river until he found a scent that matched hers. It had gone stale, and there had been a Lakelurk pod that had passed, but her scent still lingered. He wagged his tail and looked back at the men behind him.

"Woof!" he barked and wagged his tail harder, he returned his nose to the ground and began his tracking mode heading up the slight incline to the west.

"Good boy, Rex." Antony said patting the cyberdog. Vulpes looked pleased with the result; Caesar was none too pleased to have his favourite plaything run off on him after his birthday no less, the ungrateful wretch. She still haunted his dreams, and he intended on having some fun with her himself before handing her over to Caesar, one last time.

Ella checked over their supplies, they were running low on a few things, but at least they were on the list that Cass and Arcade had. Boone entered the shack, letting bright sunshine in. he came up to the table beside her; she turned and smiled at him.

She reached for a 10mm pistol at the same time as he did, his hand touched hers. He held her hand in his warm and gentle grip. She looked up into his shades, he had a dopey grin on his face, which she couldn't help but mirror. They moved closer to each other until she was in his arms.

He leaned down to her and gently kissed her; she brought her hands up to his face and held him. Through her clothes she felt his warmth, this was what she had never had with Vulpes and Caesar, someone she actually wanted to be with, someone who made her feel like she was valued, and worth something and not simply a plaything to be used and abused.

Boone gently guided her to his bed, he removed his shirt and returned his attentions to her, gently taking her face in his rough, calloused hands, he saw the fear in her eyes, and the hope.

"Ella, if you're not ready for this, please tell me." He said earnestly, he did not want to force her to do anything she was uncomfortable doing he knew she had gone through a great and terrible ordeal at the hands of Caesar and his cronies, he wanted her to feel safe and secure again, he wanted a second chance with the woman he was falling in love with.

"It's fine Boone, I'm ready." Ella said, as she removed her own shirt before returning to his embrace. They lay upon his bed, enjoying the feeling of each other's bodies before they removed their pants and joined in passion. Ella's heart soared with joy at the freedom to take a bed mate, and not have one forced upon her by a tyrannical maniac or his men.

She awoke in the middle of the night, the bedclothes twisted around their bodies. His warmth beside her a comfort she had not had during her time as Caesar's slave. His eyes were upon her shoulder, the tattoo stark against her skin in the dim light. She felt his fingers trace the symbol of the bull.

She turned to face him, and saw the sadness in his eyes.

"What he did to you…" he said softly, Ella felt the tears of shame burning at her eyes. She got up and left the bed. She did not need for Boone to bring up things she was not ready to discuss. She pulled on her clothes and left the shack, ignoring Boone calling her back and walked out to the enclosed fields below. She hugged herself and looked out at the wastes.

In the distance she saw a coyote approaching the ranch. She squinted her eyes a little and saw it wasn't a coyote; it was a Cyberdog, Rex. Ella smiled. He had escaped and come searching fro his mistress.

She climbed over the old fence and jogged out to him. Rex sat down near a rock and barked happily in greeting to her. She reached him and grinned,

"Hello old friend, how did you find me?" she asked as she affectionately rubbed Rex's head and ears, she knelt down and hugged the cyberdog.

She heard the click of a pistol being cocked and froze, her blood turning to ice and her stomach dropping through to the centre of the earth.

"Hello, Ella, did you miss me?" Vulpes asked her.

"Not in the slightest." Ella muttered, still patting Rex, her heart hammered in her chest and the fear coursed through her veins, she knew that if she were taken back to Caesar, her life would be measured in days, and in those final days, she would be made to wish that Benny had ended her life with the two shots to the head.

"So where's the rest of your men Vulpes, or did Caesar send you here on your own?" she asked venomously

"Antony helped me with Rex, but he returned to the Fort, it's just you and me, my sweet." Vulpes said, as he took out some rope from his shoulder bag and uncoiled it.

"Hands behind your back please, and do it slowly." Vulpes said softly. Ella complied and felt the ropes being tied around her hands. Vulpes was not gentle with her; he relished the punishment he was giving her. He moved around to face her and lifted her chin. He fiercely pressed his mouth to hers in a savage kiss.

"I have missed you, and I'm going to have my fun with you before I return you to Caesar, for old times' sake." He smirked.

Ella pulled her head away from his grip and lowered her eyes.

_"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!" _ Her mind raced, options were pretty slim right now. Boone hadn't followed her outside; he'd given her some time to herself after she had left the shack.

Vulpes hauled her to her feet and escorted her to the south towards the Safe house that the Legion had set up in the area.


	19. Chapter 19

From the door of the shack, Boone looked through the scope of his sniper rifle; there was no clear shot to Vulpes. "God damn it son-of-a-bitch." He muttered as he watched Vulpes march off with Ella. He blamed himself for bringing up such an obvious wound with Ella, how could he be so damned stupid? Of course he was worried about her, and he wanted her to feel safe. But obviously he had made a mistake in bringing up the pain that she had that came with her memories of being Caesar's slave.

He quickly ran back into the shack and gathered a few bottles of water and his weapons, some ammo and other supplies. He moved quietly, sticking to the shadows, he wouldn't be able to follow as close as he wanted to, knowing there was a fair bit of Legion activity in the area.

He lost sight of Ella, Vulpes and Rex just before dawn, he knew he would be able to track them; he went down to where he last saw them, making sure the area was clear. He found their tracks in the earth, Ella's footprints showed her exhaustion and despair, Vulpes' were precise and structured - a trained military step, and Rex's were wandering, the Cyberdog giving in to his more canine impulses to sniff at every plant, rock, stick to see who had been there before.

Vulpes forced Ella to continue on, even though he knew she was exhausted, she pushed on through her exhaustion, forcing the tears from her eyes, she would not give him the satisfaction of seeing her weep over her situation. Step, after tortuous step she moved towards the south, and then off to the southwest towards the safe house in the hills.

Boone didn't rest; he was quick on his feet while he tracked his quarry. His anger was rising, not only at himself, but at the Legion, who once again had Ella in their filthy clutches. He caught sight of Ella and Vulpes again, just as they reached the Safe house. Vulpes pushed Ella roughly to sit before the campfire.

Boone took aim but paused, the door to the safe house opened and another Legion soldier left, he kept watch over Ella as Vulpes entered the safe house and brought out a collar and some slave rags for her to change into. He tossed the rags at her feet and bent down to attach the collar to her. From the look on her face, the collar was very tight. He saw the blink of a light on the accessory that now adorned Ella's beautiful neck as Vulpes pushed a button on a small controller. Boone realised that it was one of the explosive type that the Legion used on their special captures.

He waited for the other Legionary to return to the safe house before he moved a little closer. Vulpes had untied Ella's hands, but still held his weapon on her. He watched as Vulpes made Ella undress, his blood boiled as Vulpes reached out and touched her, fondling her breasts and caressing her hips as she undressed, Ella's face said it all, she hated him and his treatment of her, she shied away from the Frumentarius' touch.

Vulpes pressed the barrel of the gun against her temple.

"Now, my dear, we are going to have our fun, it's been too long since I have had your delights, and I need a taste again, perhaps for the last time." Boone heard Vulpes say harshly to Ella. He watched with anger and felt his temper boil over as Vulpes roughly pulled Ella's nude body to his in a feral embrace; she turned her head away from him as he kissed her.

Boone could stand it no longer. He moved quickly, activating this secret weapon - a Stealth-boy. Boone ran up behind Vulpes and used the butt of his sniper rifle as a club and whacked Vulpes in the back of his head.

The Legion's leader of the Frumentarii fell to the ground, stunned; Boone threw aside his rifle, the weapon appearing as it left the stealth field to clatter to the ground before a surprised Ella. She quickly dressed in her old clothes, ignoring the slave rags at her feet, and picked up Boone's sniper rifle as his shimmering figure pummelled Vulpes' body. She heard the Stealth-boy's system fail with a crackle and Boone was revealed in all his terrible fury.

Ella scrambled to his side; she gently took his upraised fist as he prepared to smash into Vulpes' bloodied face, the Frumentarius was semi-conscious and watched as Boone drew back. Ella stopped her friend from striking Vulpes,

"Boone, stop, you are better than _him._" she said to the former NCR sniper. Boone dropped Vulpes like a sack of potatoes. Vulpes coughed and wheezed on the ground. Ella grabbed the ropes that had bound her and quickly hog-tied Vulpes, she grabbed the slave rags and shoved them into his mouth.

"When you see Caesar next, you tell him that I will see him at the dam, he won't get to have New Vegas, New Vegas, the dam and the Mojave are mine, they belong to me and I will protect what is mine. I am no longer his slave." She said, holding his chin up so that her eyes met his. He saw the cold fury and hatred in the former slave's eyes and understood that once again she was a dangerous creature.

She walked away from Vulpes, who spat out the slave rags and spoke,

"Did you tell your friend there how you moaned like a whore when you gave yourself to me in the Vault after you patched me up? Or how you screamed in ecstasy when we fucked in east Vegas before you cured Caesar of his tumour? What about the scratches you left on my back when I had you up on the desk in the weather station?"

Ella turned back to him and drew back her foot before kicking him swiftly in the face. This time, Boone had to hold her back from attacking Vulpes again. He moved Ella out of the way before he shoved the slave rags back in Vulpes' mouth and struck him one last time hard, knocking Vulpes out

"Come on, let's get out of here." He said, handing her Vulpes' pistol and shouldering his own rifle. Rex looked at the two and then decided to follow his mistress. He padded happily beside them back towards Wolfhorn Ranch.

They got back just before sunset and packed up. They set off towards the north and on to New Vegas. They passed Novac, Helios one and the El Dorado gas station, the place where she and Boone had been captured by Caesar's forces. Ella pushed on with Boone towards New Vegas; she was exhausted from her forced march with Vulpes. Boone was still impressed with her determination, but had to force her to rest at the 188 rest stop.

Ella slept for most of the night and half of the day, awakening a few times from bad dreams of Caesar and Vulpes chasing her down, beating her, raping her and finally crucifying her. Boone was there to comfort her when she woke with a cry upon her lips, or when her shaking got severe, a constant presence of warmth and caring, he held her close and secure until her trembling subsided and she drifted back to a restless sleep.

There were few others in the rest stop who were trying to sleep as well, some complained about Ella's night terrors, but a harsh look from Boone shut them up pretty quickly.

They continued on, making their way to Freeside in mid-afternoon. Ella looked around the slum, nothing much had changed. She wanted the place to prosper, and knew it wouldn't under Mr House's rule, everything would stay the same. Things would only be worse with the Legion, and with the NCr in control, things wouldn't change much, apart from the taxation of the people, many wouldn't be able to afford the simple basics needed to survive.

Ella and Boone moved through the gates to the Strip, they continued on through the secondary gates and headed to the Tops casino.

Swank met her and smiled, "Baby-doll, you look like you've been through the ringer! Go and chill out in your suite that my 'predecessor' comp'd you and I'll send up some room service!" he smiled suavely.

Ella smiled, "Thanks, Swank, but not this time, I have some things to clean up in Benny's room, you didn't touch anything in there right?"

Swank shook his head, "No, Baby, I ain't swung up to that cat's pad yet, I got my own sweet place, I'd love for you to come and see it some time." He said, winking. Boone moved forward in response to the obvious flirt and proposition, but Ella stopped him.

"Thanks, but I'm spoken for now." She said, sweetly. Boone frowned from behind his shades at Swank.

"Whoah, ok Baby, but if you get sick of soldier boy here, look me up!" Swank said, he gave them a clearance to carry their weapons in the casino and they headed up to the 13th floor.

Yes Man was still in the back room of Benny's suite; his idiotic smiling face greeted them.

"Hi! Great to see you again! Have you decided if you want to go for an independent New Vegas?" he asked in his overly friendly voice.

"Yes, it's time for Vegas to declare itself as an independent; it needs to stand on its own." Ella said to the Securitrion that held the AI of Yes Man.

"Super!" The machine beamed. "all you need to do is get rid of Mr House and tell me which of the groups we discussed you want left alone, and which ones you need to deal with."

Ella thought for a moment, the Khans were already 'dealt' with much to her despair, but she would need to pay a visit to Mother Pearl again to ask her to change her plan of attack when the time came for the second battle for Hoover Dam.

"The Omertas and the White glove society are fine, they won't be a problem, I've already stopped their meddling, the Khans were enslaved and destroyed by the Legion, unfortunately, with my help, and the Boomers are friends of mine, so they can be left alone." She said to Yes Man

"Wow! You have been busy! Those Nasty Khans won't be a problem! Those Boomers though, they have a massive amount of firepower at their disposal and with a friend like that, no-one would want to mess with you!" Yes man's screen flickered a little before he continued. "That just leaves the Brotherhood of Steel, but I heard that their bunker was destroyed by the Legion, so they aren't a problem seeing as they are all dead now right?"

"Well, actually…" Ella started, "The Brotherhood is still out there in the Mojave, just scattered about a bit, but they can be left alone." She said to the machine.

"Right, even though they'll be our biggest threat, we'll leave them alone!" Yes man's voice was beginning to grate on her a little, but she had little choice now. This was the path she had set her feet upon, and so it would be.

"So all you have to do is kill, or disable Mr House, and I'll head over to the Lucky 38, and upload my matrix onto his mainframe and we'll get things in motion! Oh this is going to be fun!"

Ella smiled at the machine, feeling silly for doing so.

"Yes, it's going to be a blast." She agreed before she turned, and with Boone following her, left Benny's room. She hoped to hell that Veronica had gotten the Pulse gun; she had a feeling that with all the robotic security in the penthouse in the Lucky 38, she'd need it.


	20. Chapter 20

**I just want to say thanks to everyone who's been reading so far, I'm amazed at the numbers, and the places you are all from! I haven't even had this many people read my published novel, (Yes, I am actually a first time published Author with more works in the... well works)**

**I am so proud to be part of this community, the reviews and love - for lack of a better word - for my stories has been overwhelming. I'm a major fan of Fallout (I'm wearing a Brotherhood of Steel T-shirt as I'm typing this) and I hope that my writing is reflecting my 'knowledge' of the game.**

**I want to thank Falloutkitten, Leyshla Gisel, Analaa, Lana, and Sember2013 for your reviews, we're not done yet! There's still a bit to go yet! :)**

**Once Again, Thank-you!**

**-Stacey Welsh (AKA Starsa83)**

They left the Tops and moved down the steps as Veronica and Raul entered the middle section of the Strip. Ella and Boone met them halfway.

"Did you get the pulse gun?" Ella asked in a hushed voice.

"Yeah, got it, Lorenzo wasn't too pleased at hiving to put it back together, and even less pleased on having to test it on a perfectly good suit of power armour which he then had to fix, but hey, it's all for the best, right?" Veronica smiled, handing over the pulse gun and some ammo.

"I sure hope so." Ella said, unconvincingly as she surreptitiously checked the EM pulse weapon that they had found in Vault 34.

"You sure don't sound sure." Veronica replied with her characteristic wit.

"There's nothing set in this world, that's something we all know very well." Raul spoke up from beside Veronica.

"True. But we can start the ball rolling towards something better than Tyranny." Ella said, looking up to the tower of the Lucky 38. "Well, I have an appointment with what some would call fate, others destiny, and some would just call it wrong place wrong time."

"Or Right place, Right time, Right Courier." Boone said, as he leaned in and gently kissed her. "Good luck." He said, as he broke the kiss, smiling from behind his ever present shades.

"Thanks." Ella said smiling, her affection for him clear in her eyes. She turned to the gates.

Victor was waiting for her at the entry o the Lucky 38 Casino floor.

"Howdy! We were all getting mighty worried about you, glad to see you got out of it alive and well." the Securitron with the Cowboy face bounced up and down on his suspension.

"Well, I got out there alive at least; I need to see the boss." Ella said, as she moved past Victor.

"Boss is upstairs." Victor said as she passed him. She moved quickly across the empty casino floor, the eeriness of the place was unsettling, knowing that very few people apart from herself had even set foot in the place since the Great war of 2077. 200 years of dust swirled around in the air as she passed.

Victor's matrix had moved to another Securitron unit and was waiting for her at the elevator.

"Which floor partner?" he asked.

"Penthouse." Ella said, stepping into the lift and turning to face the doors as they closed behind her. She took a deep breath as she felt the lift move up towards the penthouse, everything that she had gone through would bring her to one deciding point, the final battle for Hoover Dam. House had used her to get what he wanted. For the most part she had helped him. But there were certain things that she hadn't agreed with, that he, Caesar and the NCR had wanted her to do. The Brotherhood's destruction was one, as was the situation involving the Great Khans.

The elevator's bell rang and the doors opened, allowing Ella to leave. She stepped out into the sumptuous Penthouse, past the Securitron with Jane's matrix, and down the steps. She passed Mr House's interface screen, noticing the screen's avatar's eyes following her. Beneath another set of steps, there was a computer terminal. She pulled out the Lucky 38 Executive override card and the holotape that had the access codes on it.

The computer terminal activated and the keyboard lowered for her to type in the access codes. The door unsealed and an alarm klaxon activated. Ella turned and pulled the pulse gun from the holster. She took aim at the first Securitron that was advancing on her.

With the characteristic 'zap' she fired before the machine was able to attack her, she took aim at another of the deadly machines, this one formerly housing Jane, the doors to its missile banks opening, Ella fired in quick succession, downing the rest of the machines before they had a chance to fire their missiles. Two managed to fire their Gatling lasers at her, she rolled and dodged out of the way, taking shelter behind the now open door, she turned as she heard the other Securitron's behind her move into view, she aimed from her position on the floor and fired twice, the two machines were now reduced to piles of junk.

She moved quickly to the security console and cancelled the alert before she moved to the Elevator and accessed the console to unlock the Elevator to the control room. The doors opened and she entered.

The elevator ride down to the Control chamber was quick and efficient; it was very Mr House. The doors opened to reveal a single catwalk; at the end there was a strange chamber and a console. Ella approached the chamber slowly and looked in.

Lying within the glassed chamber was a thin man, his beard was long and white, he was ancient. Mr Robert House, the oldest un-ghoulified human in existence, and she was here to end that very existence. Ella took a deep breath and pulled herself away from the stasis chamber. She moved to the chamber's control console and activated it.

Open Chamber…

Sterilise Chamber…

She thought for a moment, she owed him a final word or two, she activated the first option. The screen changed.

WARNING! Opening chamber will expose subject to micro bacterial organisms, do you wish to proceed?

Yes

No

Ella selected yes, and hit the enter key. The chamber hissed as its internal purified air systems were exposed to the filthy air outside the chamber. She stepped to the side of the console and watched as the chamber opened, the glass door to the coffin-like case lifted, and the 'bed' for lack of a better word lifted up and rotated out so that House was set upright.

The creature before her was almost skeletal with age, muscles wasted to nothing, fingernails and hair grown so long that a Deathclaw would be envious of his nails and a whole town of Ghouls would make use of his hair for wigs.

"You fool, you have destroyed all my plans and for what?" the decrepid man asked her.

"For the chance for New Vegas to be independent of tyranny, from you, the NCR and Caesar. You have ruled for too long with an iron fist, there will be no gods, and no masters here. The people deserve to be free." Ella explained.

"You will not succeed." House wheezed.

"Your life is done, House, the odds aren't in your favour any more, there's too many side bets for your to cover." Ella said, as she returned to the console and activated the command to put him back into the chamber.

"I will grant you one final mercy, House; I won't allow you to suffer while the bacteria kill you slowly." Ella said, as she began the sequence to sterilise the chamber.

"You will fail, and I hope Caesar crucifies you." House's final words rasped through the hiss of the hydraulics as the chamber closed.

"I will shoot myself in the head before I let him touch me again." Ella said as she punched in the activate command. The chamber hissed as the sterilisation process began, ending Robert House's long life. Ella stood there for a moment, giving the man a little moment of respect. Her Pip-Boy beeped; there was a new message, an obituary for Robert House.

"A Tragedy has befallen Mankind" she read, "Yeah, that happened about 200 years ago, you narcissistic asshole." Ella said upon reading the obituary, she lowered her Pip-Boy and headed back to the Elevator.

She moved quickly back to the Tops, where Yes Man was waiting her with the others of her Group, Cass and Arcade had joined them, two large duffle bags full of gear and supplies.

She turned to the group and smiled,

"Ok, let's go get some shit done, get to the 38 I'll see you in the presidential suite."

Veronica grinned, "Ooh! Can I order Room service?" she said, winking at Ella as she set off after the others.

She moved to Yes Man and sent him over to the Lucky 38. She took a quick look around the strip, trusting no-one but those in her inner circle. Any gambler or NCR soldier could be a Frumentarii in disguise.

One man out of her line of sight, an old world magazine was held in front of him. Alerio, Loyal Frumentarius, and Vulpes Inculta's second watched the escaped slave as she moved through the Strip. She moved with the grace of a woman, but also had the haunt of an animal who knew she was being hunted. She was clever, and it was no wonder that Caesar wanted her back so he could punish her for her deceptions. He watched her as she moved through the gates into the first section of the Strip. He closed the magazine and followed a discreet pace behind.

Through the gates, he watched as she moved quickly up the steps and through the secure doors of the Lucky 38. He left the strip and entered Freeside, he had a small hidden room in one of the ruined buildings, he would use the radio there to inform Inculta of the location of the Courier, and his reward would be great if he could return the bitch to the Master.


	21. Chapter 21

Ella, Boone, Cass, Arcade, Veronica and Raul watched as Yes Man rolled up to the main console in the penthouse. The machine typed in a few commands on the keyboard, accessing the transfer subroutines. There was a crackling as Yes Man's matrix was transferred to Mr House's Mainframe. The machine that once housed his matrix fall to the floor, now defunct, while the large screen flickered and his goofy smiling face appeared on the screen.

"Wow! Mr House controlled lots of things from here, this is just amazing!" Yes Man beamed.

"We've got a bit of work to do, so let's get to it." Ella said.

"Right!" Yes Man's monitor flickered slightly and then realigned itself.

"I'm off to the Boomers, Veronica, I need you to go to the Tops and speak with a guy named Swank. Cass, go to Gomorrah and speak with Cachino. Arcade, go see Julie, I want to get those backup plans we discussed in motion, I have a feeling we just might need a plan 'B'.

"Always handy to have a plan 'B'." Arcade said, as he moved to call the elevator. Ella and Boone watched their friends and cohorts leave.

"What about the White Glove Society?" Boone asked, turning to her.

"I kinda ruined some of their fancy dinner plans, I doubt they will come to the party, but I also don't think they'll try to crash it either." Ella moved to the back room where the bed was, she opened the duffle bag that Boone had placed in there for her. Inside was a new set of leather armour, which she quickly changed into.

The shoulder that bore her Tattoo was bare. She rummaged around in the dresser drawers and found a blue scarf. She wrapped it around her arm, hiding the tattoo. Boone watched impassively, hiding his anger at the treatment of the woman he loved by the Legion.

He reached out to her and caressed her face, she moved her hand up and held his hand against her cheek, she turned her head and kissed the rough callouses of his fingers, before closing her hand around his and standing up.

"We need to get to Nellis and get back soon, President Kimball will be at the dam in a few days, and we've got to prevent anything happening to him." Ella ran her hands through her hair and tied it up in a ponytail. Boone nodded and shouldered a small backpack and grabbed his ever-present sniper rifle. Ella checked her own favourite 10mm pistol before she replaced it in its holster, scratched, marked and weathered it had notched up quite a few kills, many against the Legion and the Fiends. Her Anti-material rifle was leaned up against the wall by the door. She arose and grabbed it as they headed for the elevator.

Alerio watched the whores of Gomorrah as they danced, trying to entice him into the den of depravity, this would be one of the first places that Caesar would clean up, and none too soon. These degenerates deserved to be upon a cross for their depravity and lack of morals. He noticed movement from the Lucky38, others too looked as Ella and her NCR dog left the 38's security and moved out towards the gate out of the strip. He waited a moment before he followed discreetly.

The dust swirled around their feet as they stepped almost in time with each other; it was not too far to Nellis Air Force Base where the Boomers had their home, Boone knew something was wrong, there was a small speck behind them in the distance, and it should have been left behind back at the Strip.

"We're being followed." Boone noted.

"Yes, I know, since we left the Lucky 38." Ella confirmed.

"Not a trader then?" Boone mused.

"Nope, my guess is it's one of Caesar's little birdies." Ella noted.

"Are we going to do anything about this?" he asked as they continued towards the broken but still standing freeway overpass that overlooked the road to Nellis.

"Nope, I have some friends who can take care of him for me." Ella said, smiling knowingly. "We have to pick up our pace though." She said, moving a little faster. They came within sight of Fields' Shack and Jimmy's Well, though why there was a well in the middle of nowhere with no water in it she had no idea.

They crested the rise where the battered and destroyed former US Air Force town had once stood, now reduced to rubble and structural timbers by the Boomer's artillery. Ella chanced a look behind her, she noticed the speck had become the shape of a man, and he was moving very quickly without running. She turned and signalled quickly, and without waiting for a response ventured down into the hot zone.

In the distance form Nellis, she heard the tell-tale _Boom_ of a howitzer being fired.

"Ah shit!" Ella swore "_Run!_" she shouted, grabbing Boone's hand and coursing through the craters. The ground shook behind them and they felt a wave of heat wash over them, they stumbled and fell, Ella's heart rate jumped to overdrive as they scrambled to regain their feet. She didn't hear any more howitzers being fired; she looked to the Gates and saw Raquel signalling them the all clear.

Ella sighed with relief and got to her feet, helping Boone up. They moved quickly, she noticed he was limping a little; he'd twisted his ankle slightly in their fall. They made it to the gates.

"Friend of yours?" Raquel said, pointing to the hot zone where their pursuer was trying to hide out and be inconspicuous.

"Nope." Ella said, as she helped Boone through the gates.

Raquel turned and signalled to her firing teams. "_Bogey in the hot zone, acquire target and Fire, Fire, Fire!"_ she called over the radio. The noise from the Howitzers was much louder here she watched as Raquel's teams blasted the area where Alerio was hiding. She saw him turn tail and run just moments before the first ordinance struck the ground.

"I don't know if he got out of there or not, but I don't think that savage will be coming back!" Raquel smiled. "Now what do we owe the pleasure of your company?" she smiled at Ella.

"I need to see Mother Pearl; there's been a change in plans." Ella explained. Raquel turned to the base that had been their home for a generation or more.

"She's in her Barracks, as usual." Raquel indicated the barracks behind the ruined control tower.

"Thanks, Raquel." Ella said, patting the Master-at-Arms on the shoulder in a friendly fashion as she moved past and towards the barracks.

Mother Pearl sat on her favourite couch, though it had become less comfy as the years wore on, but perhaps it was just her old bones that were wearing through. The Courier sat on the other couch opposite with a much more pleasant young man than she had brought before. This one was much more respectful in his body language and his tone when he had spoken to her. Everything about him said 'military' and Pearl could appreciate that.

"Mother Pearl, I have come to ask another favour, the man who came with me last time, well, I was not with him of my own free will. I had been captured by the soldiers of Caesar's Legion, and presented to Caesar for punishment for fighting against him and his cause. He wants to take over the Mojave, and possibly much more beyond." Ella explained.

"This much we know, Child, we may be isolated, but from what young Janet and you have told us, we were starting to question the wisdom in aiding such savages. We would keep them at bay with our artillery, no doubt about that, but we can't remain isolated forever. Eventually we will need to make trading agreements with others out there beyond Nellis." Pearl sighed.

"Ask, you know we owe you so much for helping us."

Ella pulled out a map of the dam from Boone's backpack and spread it across the coffee table.

"These are the areas where Caesar's men will be coming through, and just beyond where the map ends is his Legate's camp. His own personal camp we will have under control, I have a little surprise for him once things get started on the Dam." She said, indicating the areas where the men of Caesar's Legion were more likely to attack from.

"If you could get the bomber crew to attack here, here, and then here, that would be great." Ella had marked the map for Pearl to go over with the crew piloting the bomber.

Pearl nodded, "Very well. My Youngers would be more than happy to help, they're almost ready for their first test flight, or I should say they _are_ ready, it's Jack and Loyal who are still not happy with the way this or that is working, those two are worse than an crotchety old grandmother with the Lady." Ella smiled at the old lady who sat before them.

"Well, we have to get going, lots to do, wars to plan, funerals to arrange for, vengeance to be had." Ella said as she stood up from the couch, Boone following suit. Pearl got up, her old joints complaining a little more than she would admit. She moved around the coffee table and embraced Ella.

"I much prefer this young man to that pompous little ass you brought here last time, he's a good catch." Pearl said smilingly to Ella as they broke their embrace.

Ella smiled and looked shyly at Boone, who was blushing. "So do I."

Alerio grimaced and hissed through his teeth as he patted the dirty cloth against the open wound on his leg, those damned Boomers would pay with their lives and freedom for their treachery, as would the Courier and her NCR lapdog. It would be a few days before he would be able to move from the Shack near the entry to the hot zone at Nellis, that is, if infection hadn't set in before then.


	22. Chapter 22

**Hello Valued Readers, Those who are just having a looky-loo, Fans and Fangirls! I have something very special planned for the next chapters... I hope you'll like it, I really do. keep your eyes on the prize! or rather the next few chapters!)**

**Once again, thanks for your support guys!**

**-Stacey/Starsa83**

The King sat in the hall, watching as one of his boys danced and moved in the traditions of his group, other members of The Kings sat around him, Pacer was up against the back wall, leaning into it with one foot on the ground, and the other against the wall, his arms crossed and with the classic cool look he had down pat. Ella entered, that kitten was always a breath of fresh air compared to his groupies. She was tough and beautiful, and most of all, she had respect, not undeserved admiration like the other flaky women in his life, but respect.

"Hey, have a seat, and tell me what's happening." He said, inviting her and her companion to the two seats beside him. Ella sat and waited for Boone to sit beside her.

"King," Ella started, "There's a few things we'd like to discuss with you…" she started.

The sun shone down upon the building, reflecting slightly off the metal framework of the overhead power lines. Several NCR troops stood guard at the El Dorado substation Ella stood in the black armour of an NCR Ranger, along with the hat, shades and attitude that went with it. Boone stood in similar garb beside her.

The sergeant in charge of the small group of soldiers ran up to them.

"Ma'am, we weren't expecting anyone here today, what are you doing here? Have you any orders?" she said, smartly.

"Ranger business, Trooper. Under Chief Hanlon's orders, I have to inspect this substation for Legion bugs and spy equipment." Ella lied, moving past the trooper.

"Ma'am?" the trooper stood agape, unused to the Ranger's gruff personalities. She stood and watched as the Ranger moved to the door of the substation.

"Ma'am you can't go in there!" she called, she sprinted in her combat armour and intersected herself between the ranger and the door to the substation.

"I'm sorry Ma'am but I have my orders, apart from those of us stationed here to guard this installation, no-one is to go in there, or the fenced area where the transformers are located, anyone who does is to be shot."

"I have my orders as well, Trooper, One report to Chief Hanlon and I'll have you on the front lines and fighting Caesar's boys so damn fast it'll make your helmet spin atop your head." Ella snarled, Boone stepped in between the two.

"Step aside Sergeant." Boone said softly. "You don't want to try Ranger Cosgrove." He said, using Ella's alias, the name of an actual Ranger well known for her temper and special arrangements for troopers who pissed her off, what wasn't known was that Cosgrove had been killed by a Legion raiding party the day before, Ella and Boone had come across the body of the Ranger patrol and 'utilised' the dead ranger's armour for the purpose of getting to the substation.

The sergeant moved aside allowing Ella and Boone to enter the substation.

Ella moved quickly to the console that Yes Man had indicated and installed the override chip; lights on the console indicated the program's uploading status. They had a few minutes to wait while the process completed. Ella smiled when the console bleeped, indicating that it had finished loading. She left the chip, knowing that it wouldn't be found and moved out with Boone. They departed the substation.

"All clear, Carry on sergeant." Ella said, as the passed the dumbfounded trooper.

Yes Man's broadcasting range would now reach the Securitron Vault under the Fort, the chip having boosted the signals that Yes Man would send to their standing army of deadly robots.

"Now what?" Boone asked,

"Now, we go and save the life of a Presidential asshole." Ella said grimly. They moved to the Dam where preparations were already well underway for the President's visit. A large stage had been set up with banners and two NCR Flags set up. Ella and Boone approached the Ranger in charge, Ranger Grant.

"Sir, Rangers Constance Tenant and Charlie Granger reporting in, Chief Hanlon sent us from Camp Golf. Is there anything we can do?" Ella said, saluting the Ranger in charge.

"Go and do a perimeter check, Rangers, look for anything suspicious. I want this place locked down tighter than a virgin's… well, you get the idea." He said, stopping himself from using a metaphor that would be uncouth for a Ranger of his stature to use.

Ella and Boone moved out, there wasn't much time until the President was to arrive. Ella turned to Boone, "Ok, if you were going to take a shot at the president, where would you do it from?" she asked him quietly, knowing that his time as a sniper would reveal the best spots.

Boone looked around quickly locating three such areas.

"If it were me, I'd try the ridge, up there behind the visitor centre," he pointed up to the rocky ridges that surrounded the western part of the Dam, "The Top of the visitor centre," he turned back to the east, "Or the tower over there." He pointed to the tower directly behind the stage.

Ella thought for a moment, "I'm not sure about the ridge, it looks like it would be a pain to get up there, and dangerous to get down." Boone nodded

"I agree, you might get the job done, and you might even get away with it, but your body wouldn't be discovered until the birds had picked you clean if you slipped and fell."

Ella tapped her chin in thought, "I'll get up to the top of the visitor centre, you go and scout the tower." She said, Boone nodded,

"Right." He said, "Good luck." He took her hand and held it for a moment. She looked into his eyes and smiled,

"You too." She said.

Boone turned and headed towards the tower, while Ella moved towards the visitor centre.

Within the art deco style visitor centre, Ella came across a very worried looking woman, she approached Ella, the reason for the concern over her face apparent when she spoke.

"Hey, you haven't seen my friend around here have you? His name's Ben and he's an Engineer, we were going to watch Kimball's speech together." The young woman said worriedly.

"No, sorry I haven't seen him, when did you see him last?" Ella asked.

"Last night, he was going to meet here an hour ago, but he's never usually late without telling me." The girl was almost beside herself with worry.

"If I find him, I'll send him your way." Ella promised.

"Thanks, I appreciate it." The NCR mechanic replied.

Ella turned and moved to the back of the visitor centre, there was a cleaners room under the curving stairs, she noticed a small trace of blood on the wall beside the handle. Ella opened the door and looked inside the room. There was more blood upon the floor. She moved in to have a closer look. The smell of blood infused the air. There were two lockers in the room, and at the base of one of them was a small puddle of blood dripping from the locker to the floor.

Ella took a deep breath and opened the locker. Stuffed within was the body of the woman's friend. "Ben, I presume?" Ella said to herself, "My word, you have seen far better days I'll wager." Ella shook her head and closed the door on the poor bastard. Ella moved quickly out of the cleaners room, lest she come under suspicion from the others. She hoped she would be gone long before they discovered the body of the Engineer.

Ella went over to the computer and hacked into the system, hidden, but not very well, there was an unauthorised access note, 'Sgt Macovitch' in the security logs. The itinerary for the President's visit had been copied and loaded to a holodisk by the sergeant. Ella frowned, it was suspicious; for why would a lowly ranking sergeant need to access the 'top secret' itinerary?

Ella turned and left the visitor centre via the stairs. She approached Ranger Grant while Boone returned from the tower.

"We've gone through the area sir; everything seems to be in order, though one of the Mechanics has reported a missing Engineer. Otherwise we find the area secure; we'll still keep a weather eye out for anything suspicious." Ella said reporting to Grant.

"Very good, Rangers." Grant said, looking out to the distant sky. "Not a moment too soon, here's the president's vertibird." The sound of the twin rotor flying machine cut through the clear sky. Ella felt the tension in the air from the other Rangers. The Legion had agents here, how could they ignore the chance to demoralise the NCR?

Ella took a deep breath and calmed herself as Bear Force One landed atop the Visitor Centre. From her vantage point she watched as an engineer moved something in his pocket, a black case with a tiny flashing light was in his hand. His back was turned to her, so he didn't see her notice the item in his hand.

"What the hell…" Ella said in disbelief. She moved quickly to the ladder as the President moved through the doors of the Visitor centre to head towards the stage.

Boone watched the top of the tower, flicking his eyes to different possible vantage points from a Sniper's point of view. Ella reached the top of the Vertibird landing pad, the big machine stood there, its engines ticking slowly as their thermal expansion reversed with their cooling. Ella went quickly over the machine, finding the bomb attached to the fuselage on the underside of the landing gear covers. She removed the offending weapon of destruction and disarmed it.

She went to the edge of the Vertibird pad and looked for Boone. He was moving quickly towards the tower; Ella looked up just as the sniper that was already up there was thrown off by another man. She watched as Boone raced to the tower and made his way to the top. _Go Boone, get your ass up there baby!_" she thought to herself, she slowly pulled out her 10mm pistol just in case Boone wasn't fast enough. She watched as the man atop the tower pulled out a sniper rifle and saw the glint of his scope as he took aim for the President, her heart pounding so hard she thought it would make its way up through her throat.

Boone grabbed the Legion Sniper and threw him off the side of the tower, poetic justice for the NCR sniper that the Legion sniper had killed just minutes before. Ella moved down the ladder and approached ranger Grant as Boone's voice came in over the radio on the table.

"One enemy sniper taken out on top of the Tower here, Sir." His voice crackled over the radio's speaker.

Ella placed the disarmed bomb onto the table before Ranger Grant.

"One explosive device removed from the President's Vertibird, Sir." She reported, "Planted by an engineer, most likely a Legion Agent."

"Get the President out of there _now_…" Grant said over the radio, Ella looked up to the Stage, an engineer… no, the same engineer who had planted the bomb was approaching the president, as he approached the stage, he drew a knife, and a struggle ensued amongst him and the Rangers who protected Kimball. One of the Rangers fell mortally wounded. The president was rushed away to the Visitor centre, and into his safe room.

"Good job, Ranger…" Ranger Grant said, turning to the ranger at his side, but she had disappeared in the confusion.

Ella and Boone walked away down the road from the Dam.

"Well, that was _fun_." Ella said. To Boone, "You always this much fun on dates?"

Boone smiled,

"Just wait till you see our next one, I'm going to give you a Dam!"

Ella laughed at the joke, but knew that the next few days would be spent in preparations for the final battle for Hoover Dam, and no matter which way the battle went, the Mojave would be changed forever.


	23. Chapter 23

**Ok, guys, this one is only a short chapter, after this chapter, there will be TWO yes count them... One... Two ENDINGS! its kinda like a choose your own ending. I'm not sure how many chapters each ending will comprise of, but as they are works in progress, I'll keep you appraised, look for the chapter names as to clues as to which ending is whch eg. CHAPTER ## ENDING 1 etc. I hope you enjoy the endings, or whichever one becomes your fave!**

**Much love to you all for reading so far!**

**Lets get this done!**

Ella stood before Yes Man.

"Hey, Guess what? It's time! The attack on the dam is about to begin, my sensors indicate a mass troop movement within the Fort, which is just super! If you want for this plan to work, I think you better get down there! And have a great day! The computer beamed.

"Gee. Thanks." Ella said, unenthusiastically. She turned and headed down to the presidential suite where the rest of her gang were settled.

"Ok, its time, go and get ready, Veronica, Arcade, you know where you need to be, Cass, Raul, you two stay back, but as close as you dare without being too close to the action, you've got our fall-back point if shit goes pear-shaped." ED-E will be with us, Boone, Rex, you stay boy, good boy." Ella patted the Cyberdog with affection.

Rex wagged his tail and whined, wanting to be with his mistress but his programming and loyalty subroutines kept him in the stay position. Veronica and Arcade made their way to the elevator, and off to their planned places for the upcoming battle. Cass checked the two-way radio that Ella had given her Ella had the other of the pair. The radio clicked and crackled, showing that even after over 200 years after its manufacture it still worked, thanks to the micro-fusion cells that powered it.

Ella shouldered the duffle bag, and tightened her combat armour while boone checked his sniper rifle.

"Ready?" he asked, as he finished up.

"Yes, let's go kick the Legion's ass; make those fuckers sorry that they even bothered to look this way." Ella said, as she loaded her two 10mm SMGs with fresh, full clips, she had several reload clips ready, an array of grenades, both plasma and fragmentation variants were arrayed across her belt. A hunting shotgun and her Anti Materiel rifle both awaited her both fully loaded and with extra ammo in the side pockets of her combat pants. She sighed, if she ran out of ammo she'd just shoot n loot when she could.

They were joined by a Securitron form Vegas and moved quickly across the Mojave to the ruins of Boulder City, once past, they heard the explosions of the repaired Howitzer from the Fort striking areas of the dam.

"Tardy to the party." Boone commented as they joined the fray.

The battle was joined, men in crimson sportswear and men and women of the NCR army were at each other's throats. Ella and Boone took aim and began to fire at the men of the  
Legion. Ella took out her two SMGs and prepared herself.

"Looks like its time to Spray 'n' pray" she said, as she lovingly squeezed the triggers, casings of the bullets she fired flying past her as she fired. Men in the crimson amour of the Legion fell before her and the other soldiers as they slowly moved forwards towards the eastern side of the Dam. Boone was there beside her, step by step, the Securitron reloaded its missiles once the banks were depleted. Ella would love to have known where the hell it got the reloads from, as they seemed to be coming out of thin air.

The Securitron came up beside her and she heard Yes Man's voice,

"Oh isn't this fun! Once we get to that last tower there, we, or actually you, need to go in and install this override chip into the Dam's mainframe, from there you can activate the Securitrons and take over the Dam, or you can shut down the Dams power systems, then it will be useless to the NCR and the Legion!" Ella looked up from firing, the guns cooling in her hands.

"Right, let's get to it then!" she said, calling to Boone, who fired one last shot and moved over to be with her. Ella quickly explained their situation and he nodded,

"Let's go then." Ella moved back with the men and women of the NCR as they continued to press forward past the last tower. Ella and Boone held back a little and entered the passed dead and dying Legionaries and NCR troopers, finally reaching the computer systems room where two heavily armed and armoured heavy Troopers stood in defunct power armour, the servos removed these were harder to run around in than what Ella had been trained in, and much of it was captured from the NCR/Brotherhood war and re-utilised for NCR use.

The sounds of gunfire and screams echoed down the hall. Ella knew that the two heavy troopers who were guarding the computer room would shoot anyone on right.

"Hey quickly, Colonel Moore is in trouble! The Legion has her pinned down in her office, she needs help now!" she yelled, running up to the two heavy troopers.

"Damnit! We've got orders, we can't abandon our post here." One said.

"We'll stay here and guard don't worry!" Ella said, hoping that she could convince the troopers.

"Fuck, ok, no-one gets in there, got it?" the other trooper said as they broke and ran towards the Colonel's office

"Got it!" Ella called after them, she turned to Boone, "Cover me!" she said and quickly ran in to the computer room where she installed another override chip.

The computer screen changed, Yes Man had taken over the computer temporarily.

"Hi! Wow this is great, isn't it?" he beamed.

"Yeah, just peachy, day at the beach." Ella said snidely, knowing that Sarcasm wouldn't really rile the computer.

"Ok, so now, you can activate the Securitrons where they'll cause all kinds of chaos at the Fort, and then make their way over here when they've finished to help you mop up, or you can deactivate the plants power output." Yes Man offered his options to her.

"Activate the Securitrons." Ella said without hesitation.

"Ok, activating them now, boy I sure would love to see Caesar's face when he sees all those securitrons flooding out and killing his men ha-ha!" Yes Man's stupid grin beamed.

"You and me both buddy." Ella said grimly.


	24. Chapter 24 Ending 1

**Ok guys! here's the first ending, I hope you enjoy it, the other ending will be written tomorrow or in the next few days, All good things must come to an end, I hope you have enjoyed the Story as I have enjoyed writing it! Look out for more of my works in the coming weeks!**

**-Stacey/Starsa83**

ENDING 1.

"Uh-oh…" Yes man said, as Ella began to turn away to continue the fight for the Dam.

"What do you mean 'Uh-oh'?" Ella asked the monitor.

"Wow, that's strange, there's no response from the Securitron Vault, how funny is that?" Yes Man replied.

"Yes Man, that's not funny at all. What's the problem?" Ella asked,

"One moment, please." Yes Man replied, there was a sound of 'elevator music' being piped through the speakers.

"Well, it appears that someone went down to the Vault and destroyed the generators after you installed the upgrade down there, the entire vault is gone, ka-boom, poof, vanished! Your entire army of Securitrons is gone! I'm sorry, I'm not being very helpful right now, but hey, that's what benny programmed me to be, and I guess I kinda suck at it right now!"

"Yes…" Ella said, weakly, seeing the dam, Vegas and the Mojave's freedoms slipping through her fingers. "You kinda do suck at it right now, but it's not your fault."

Boone ran into the room and grabbed her shoulders

"Ella, we got to get out of here, the Legion has regrouped and have pushed back underneath in the service tunnels, what we had up there," he pointed upwards to the Dam's surface, "was only a small part of their forces, the rest are flooding the lower areas, they'll have the dam overrun in less than an hour.

"Right, let's fall back to the outskirts of Vegas, we'll regroup there." Ella turned and made tracks for the exits, she got onto the two way radio.

"Cass! Do you copy?" she called.

_"Hear you loud and clear, it sure looks like a shit-storm out there, I got NCR troops making a break for it back over the Dam with Legion shitheads hot on their tails, where are you guys?"_ Cass' response brought a shiver down Ella's spine.

"Oh fuck." She said, and then returned to the radio.

"We're falling back, get everyone who you can back to our fall-back position on the outskirts of Vegas, move it!"

_"Got you loud and clear, we'll see you there!"_ Cass cut off communications.

Ella and Boone moved quickly past the fighting, the NCR and Legion were too busy fighting each other that they didn't notice two NCR troops making a break for it.

They ran past the Dam's visitor centre, more troops were running away than running to the Dam, and waves of crimson followed. Boone and Ella ran on towards Vegas, while the other forces of the NCR split from them and headed towards Camp Forlorn Hope.

"Fucking cowards." Boone breathed, and for him to say that of old comrades-in-arms was a big thing. She could feel his disappointment, but now, the safety of New Vegas depended on her much smaller standing army now, and without their Securitron army, Ella didn't know how long they would last.

They reached the outskirts of Vegas, Cass stood ready, The Kings, Crimson Caravaneers and an assortment of people from Freeside stood behind her.

Veronica stood resplendent in her Brotherhood armour, as many of the Brotherhood's Paladins and Knights as could be gathered stood behind her.

Arcade stood with the remnants, Daisy Whitman sat in the cockpit of the Enclave Remnant's Vertibird, its' engines ready to fire up at a moment's notice

Raul and Lilly stood with an assortment of Nightkin and Super Mutants, Neil stood beside Lilly, having come from the little shack at Black Mountain, Marcus beside them.

Ella looked at the assortment of soldiers, civilians and mutants.

There was a group of NCR soldiers who had come over from Camp McCarran to join them.

She knew it would not be enough, but Caesar would not get the city without a fight.

Boone placed his hand on her shoulder, "Maybe, you should say something."

"People of New Vegas, Friends, Allies, and companions, Today we fight for New Vegas' freedom, Caesar's Legion marches on us now, they have the Dam, they overtook us in numbers greater than we thought, they want to take our home, and enslave us, they won't get us without a fight." She raised her hunting shotgun, "So let's give them a good one and make them think twice about trying to take what is ours!"

A cheer came from the crowd; she could see the fear in the eyes of many, and the determination in few others. She wondered how many would stay the field with her, and how many would flee. Only time and the battle ahead would tell.

The waiting was the worst of it, smoke billowed from the locations of the NCR camps and Ranger Stations as the army of the Legion took them out.

Soon a line of Crimson appeared on the horizon. Boone came up and stood beside Ella.

"Well, here they come." He said, watching as the soldiers marching line began to grow, banners and pennants could be seen. Something nagged at Ella,

"Is this it? There's no way that they wouldn't send more troops, their numbers aren't right, we could take them out right here with what we have." Ella observed. She thought for a moment,

"Son-of-a-Bitch!" she said, as it hit her like a Deathclaw strike.

"What?" Boone asked her,

"The Sewers." Ella explained. "There are sealed sections of the Sewers that lead into the Strip and Freeside, House had them sealed but if the Legion worked hard enough, they could unseal them…" she postulated

"And gain entry uninhibited." Boone finished, "Shit, we've gotta get to the Strip and warn everyone."

Ella nodded, she ran to Veronica. "You guys are in charge, but if it looks like they are going to win through, get the hell out of here, and take as many people as you can with you."

Veronica nodded; she didn't question Ella, for she had such trust in their friendship.

"Good luck." She said to Ella, holding out her hand

"You too." She gripped Veronica's arm as veronica gripped hers.

Ella turned to Arcade, "We might need you, Arcade, or at least the Followers will. You're with us." Arcade looked to the Remnants, Judah nodded,

"Go boy." He said, pushing Arcade along towards Ella and Boone. "We'll hold them as long as we can." Arcade followed Ella and Boone.

Cass caught up with Ella.

"Hey, what the fuck is going on?" she asked.

Ella continued walking, "Shit is just about to get pear shaped in Vegas." She said quietly.

"Shit is _always _pear shaped in Vegas, why do you think I drink so much?" She said, calling the last of her sentence as Ella walked away. Ella turned and called back

"Because you love the burn!" she turned back to Vegas and upped her pace to join Boone and Arcade.

They moved quickly through the streets of Freeside, only the junkies who were too wasted were still milling about, Arcade ducked away to warn the Followers at the Old Mormon Fort of the possibility of an impending attack from below before joining Ella and Boone at the gates to the Strip.

They moved through the streets of the Strip, Securitrons stood ready, as did the whores of Gomorrah and the Omerta Thugs. She knew the Chairmen and their boys would be similarly arrayed on their sections of the Strip. They would defend their homes and livelihoods with their lives, just as those in her small army on the outskirts of Vegas would.

Ella nodded to those who were on the strip, armed and ready before she entered the Lucky38.

She rode the Elevator with Boone and Arcade to the Penthouse. The mood within the small space was one of tense fear and worry.

The lift doors opened with a friendly 'ding!' and Ella ran out to the penthouse's main floor with Boone and Arcade not far behind her.

"Yes Man!" Ella called out to the computer on the lower level of the Penthouse. "Can you check the sewer system for any unauthorised entry into the restricted or sealed areas?"

"I sure can, yep, there were several large groups that entered previously secure areas that are now located underneath the Strip, Freeside and Camp McCarran!" He paused for a moment, "I'm also reading damage to some of the sealed manholes, and they're not going to be sealed for much longer!" the machine beamed happily.

There was a soft _boom_ followed by another two seconds apart, the room trembled a little. And Ella ran to the window, she looked down at the Strip and across to Camp McCarran. Plumes of smoke, and concrete dust billowed up from the manholes Ella watched as the dust settled and drifted the flood of men in Crimson Armour arose to take the streets of New Vegas. She felt Boone and Arcade join her at the window

She broke from the window and turned back to Yes Man

"Can you activate the defences at the top of the 38 Tower and fire them on any Legion soldiers within range?"

"I sure can… no, wait, I seem to be losing power to that section, and the systems sensors, cameras, transmitters… Securitrons are going down. Main…frame… los…ing… po…we…rrr" Yes Man's screen flickered and went black, a single line centred on the screen and then retracted to a single dot in the middle of the screen before it too faded, the console dead.

"Yes Man?" Ella said, typing in some commands on the keyboard, "Yes Man?"

"No Man." Came a voice that filled Ella with dread. She turned to face the voice from above. She hadn't heard the Elevator doors open with their characteristic bell. Above them on the upper floor stood Caesar, but it was Vulpes Inculta who had spoken. Boone moved quickly to be by her side, Arcade took two steps towards his friends and then stopped, he noticed Boone's hand going for his sidearm.

_"Oh shit." _ Arcade thought "Well, guys, it looks like we are _Raptus regaliter._"

Ella looked back to Arcade over her shoulder,

"You know, my Latin is still _really _rusty, seeing as I was too busy to learn last time I was with these guys." She said with just a hint of sarcasm.

"You are 'Royally Screwed.'" Offered Caesar. "Don't worry my dear, you'll have _plenty_ of time to learn now." He moved to the balustrade and placed his hands on the rail.

"I have missed you Ella, and you have given me such a beautiful city to call my Rome." He kept one hand on the rail as he outstretched his hand towards her. "And I have such a beautiful and intelligent slave to share my bed with."

Boone scowled and drew his weapon, stepping around in front of Ella.

Time slowed down as the crack of a gunshot echoed through the penthouse. Lla looked up to the men at the upper floor. She watched for Caesar to fall, but it was Boone who fell before her. she reached out to him as Arcade ran to the other side.

Ella held onto him, but his weight brought her down to her knees beside him.

"Boone!" she cried out, "No…" she knew at once that this wound would prove to be fatal for her newfound love, no matter what help Arcade could provide, because she knew that Caesar would not allow Boone to be healed. She moved to his face, taking his shades from his forehead to look into his eyes. His Beret had fallen from his shaved head. She reached over and picked it up and placed it over his chest, her hands already wet with his blood.

"Ella…" he gasped, "I'm sorry, I should have told you before, but, I love you." Ella's tears fell upon his face and she wiped them from his skin, leaving finger streaks of his blood on his cheeks.

"I love you too." She whispered to him. she felt rough hands grabbing her shoulders and pulling her away from Craig Boone. The Praetorian Guard pulled Arcade from Boone's side as well and hauled them both towards the set of couches and chairs that sat to the side of the room where Boone lay bleeding to death and the massive computer where Mr House and Yes Man's computer matrices had once resided. Ella and Arcade were roughly pushed to the couches, and a Praetorian Guard sat on each side of them.

Caesar stepped lightly down the stairs, followed by Lucius, Vulpes and Alerio. He looked at Boone as he lay breathing harshly. Caesar saw the look of hatred in the man's eyes. He stepped around Boone's prone form and picked up the handgun that Boone had aimed at him moments before.

The conquering dictator knelt down beside Boone and casually held the gun.

"I'm not that bad a person, really, I could have you crucified while she watches." He said, indicating with the gun in Ella's direction, "But then that would not show my merciful side, I have what I want," Caesar began to count on his fingers using the gun.

"I have the Dam, I have New Vegas, I have the Mojave, and I even got the Girl." He smiled, "Don't worry; I'll take _good_ care of her. She'll live quite some time, or at least for as long as I live. I might even keep that doctor fellow with the tongue for Latin." Caesar stood up.

"But you, I have no use for you." He raised the pistol and Ella watched as Caesar shot Boone in the head, ending his suffering and his life.

Ella cried out and leapt to her feet, her guards took hold of her as she screamed and cried, fighting against them as she tried to get to her lover's body. Caesar moved to intercept her efforts.

He grabbed her and held her close to him, while she struggled and struck at him uselessly. "Vulpes, Alerio, the collars plase." Caesar held her away from him long enough so that the Guads could hold her.

Vulpes handed Caesar a red leather dog's collar, with one addition. It was The Golden Bull emblem from the Choker that she wore for him on his Birthday. He placed it almost lovingly around her neck while Alerio placed another slave collar around Arcade's neck.

Caesar looked at Ella's face, tear streaked and beautiful, full of anger, rage, sorrow and disbelief. He brought his hands up to either side of her face and kissed her savagely.

Arcade lowered his head as he knew their freedoms had been taken from them, their plans had been ground to dust.

Caesar looked her over and saw the scarf that had hidden the mark he gave her.

"Never be ashamed to be my Slave." He said, untying the scarf from her arm.

_"Aeternit Servus Caesar"_ the Emperor of the Legion smiled at one of his most prized possessions.

Beyond the Strip, the ranks of the impromptu army broke at Veronica's orders. The groups scattered across the Mojave, many of them were recaptured and enslaved by the Legion.

The Brotherhood was hunted down, but many were able to escape and re-join other chapters, Veronica left her brothers and began working as a repairwoman, she never knew what had become of her friend, the Courier, but legends arose of the beautiful woman who stood beside Caesar in the Lucky 38

Cass and Raul began a new Caravan company once they made it back to the NCR, it was rough for a while, but the Ghoul Rose Caravan Company made a small name for itself, trading as far as the Mojave outpost, where the NCR had retreated to, leaving the Legion to claim much of the Mojave. Soon word of the Courier's and Arcade's fate reached them.

Many of the Super Mutants and Nightkin who fought for Freeside and the Strip were killed. Lilly and Neil were amongst them, Lilly's thoughts were with her grandchildren as her life ended, and another dear friend's memory was joined with that of her grandchildren.

Ella and Arcade lived in the Lucky 38 with their master. Ella wept with bitter grief when she learned that she was pregnant with Caesar's Son months after Caesar's victory. Caesar was immensely pleased, however, and ordered Arcade to keep her and the child healthy for a successful birth for the Inheritor of the Legion. **She** would live to see her son grow and take on the mantle of his father.

Thus, the Courier's story ended, from a grave outside Goodsprings, to the recaptured slave of the Emperor of the Legion and the mother of the future Caesar.


	25. Chapter 24 Ending 2

**Ok guys, here's Ending 2, I hope you have enjoyed the stroy, I really enjoyed writing it, I'm going to start a new Fallout Story soon, I hope you'll enjoy that one too!**

**Thanks for the Reviews and for Reading my works!**

**Much Love to all the Fallout Fans out there!**

**-Stacey/Starsa83**

ENDING 2.

From Chapter 22:

The computer screen changed, Yes Man had taken over the computer temporarily.

"Hi! Wow this is great, isn't it?" he beamed.

"Yeah, just peachy, day at the beach." Ella said snidely, knowing that Sarcasm wouldn't really rile the computer.

"Ok, so now, you can activate the Securitrons where they'll cause all kinds of chaos at the Fort, and then make their way over here when they've finished to help you mop up, or you can deactivate the plants power output." Yes Man offered his options to her.

"Activate the Securitrons." Ella said without hesitation.

"Ok, activating them now, boy I sure would love to see Caesar's face when he sees all those securitrons flooding out and killing his men ha-ha!" Yes Man's stupid grin beamed.

"You and me both buddy." Ella said grimly.

"There's one override switch that you need to activate so the process is complete." Yes Man advised her. "I'll mark the location on your Pip-Boy."

"Thanks," Ella said, "See you at the end of this, I hope." She turned to Boone, "Ready to get back out there?" she asked.

"As long as I can take out some Legionaries." He replied.

"As many as your heart desires." Ella promised.

"There's really only two that I want to kill myself, but I think you got dibs first."

"That's right." Ella said, remembering, "Yes-Man, can you send an order to the securitrons at the fort?" she asked.

Once her order had been placed and sent successfully, Ella and Boone ran out of the control room and headed towards the Eastern power plant's override switch, firing on any red clad soldiers they passed. Ella's SMGs ran out of ammo, and she switched to her Anti Materiel rifle, it was a bit more unwieldy in the closer quarters, but it would have to do.

They found the override switch on a service balcony overlooking one of the eastern power plants. Ella pushed hard on the switch; the power plant began to hum through the turbines as the water flowed through them.

Ella turned and headed to the nearby elevator. She and Boone exited into the bright sunshine just as the Boomers flew by in their bomber, dropping ordinance upon the tide of crimson soldiers as they tried to cross the dam. Boone took hold of Ella's shoulder and pointed to the Fort, fires blazed as the Securitron forces attacked Caesar's men.

"We'll have an accounting soon Caesar, you too Vulpes." Ella promised the leader of the Legion.

They pushed through the Legion forces, taking out as many as they could. They were joined by the Remnants of the Enclave, Arcade was standing beside them in his father's Power Armour.

"Fancy seeing you here!" he smiled.

Ella grinned back at him, "Make sure you don't stick around for the NCR after party, they'll arrest you for that getup as quick as if you were wearing a legion suit, get your ass back to the 38 when we finish here." Ella turned back to the fight

"Does that go for me too? I still haven't gotten my Brahmin burger or my shake, your room service really sucks by the way." Veronica said coming up beside Arcade, for anyone who knew the history between the Enclave and the Brotherhood of Steel, they would have thought it strange that these two enemies now stood side by side in their power armour, fighting for the same cause.

"I'll be sure to take that up with the butler when we get back, and yes, that goes for you too, unless you're heading back to your people, just don't hang around!" she had to shout as Daisy Whitman flew the Enclave's Vertibird away from the Dam, firing its on-board weapons at some of the enemy as she went. The rest of the Remnants came up behind Arcade, while the Brotherhood formed up behind Veronica.

They pushed the Legion back and off the dam, finally arriving at the Legate's camp. They entered and fought furiously, losing many of their NCR soldiers and a few of their Brotherhood allies.

Legate Lanius stood proud, watching the men sacrifice themselves for Caesar, he saw the one person that Caesar had sought all these weeks since she had escaped.

The Courier.

Lanius executed two captured NCR soldiers, and moved down the rough earth-hewn steps to meet the worthy adversary, one he had underestimated, they had all underestimated her, and now he had lost the Dam. Caesar, if he survived the attacks that were being reported at the Fort, would not be pleased.

"Surrender, Lanius! It's over!" Ella shouted. The armour and mask clad Legionary, more feared than even Caesar by his own men stood stoically upon the path.

"You dare to ask me to surrender? The Legion will wash over the Dam, over the NCR dogs behind you, Vegas and the West. We will pave our roads with your dead, our crops will be watered with your blood. I will lead the armies of the East through the NCR for the glory of Caesar." the giant rumbled.

"You know that would mean the loss of the East. The size of the NCR is it's weakness." Ella observed.

"You try to convince me by offering me knowledge of your weaknesses? You are a Fool, we will win." Lanius countered.

"You may yet, but it will come at great cost, would you lose the East just to gain the West? How long will it take you to regain your strength after this day? How many more tribes will you need to obliterate and merge into the Legion to regroup and recover?" Ella paused for him to think. "You will spread yourselves so thin that you will lose much of what you have gained in the past years."

"There is wisdom in your words. I should have insisted Caesar hand you over to me during our capture, perhaps then you wouldn't be here today, Caesar's vanity and desire for you were part of his downfall."

"I suffered much at his hands, and those of Vulpes." Ella revealed, "I will have an accounting with both, if they lived through the assault of my army."

"Your vengeance may wait, Vulpes, ever the clever fox has vanished from the camp before the 'army' of Robots attacked. As to Caesar's fate, if he is dead, I will be the new Caesar, and I will return East and regain my strength and return to claim what is rightfully the Legion's to claim, perhaps you as well."

"Don't count on it. I do not intend to be a Slave to Caesar, or any man for that matter. I am a free woman, I'm also free to kill you if I need to." She threatened.

She could not tell if the threat was successful, as his face was masked

"Hnh." Lanius humphed, "I will return to take the Dam, Vegas and the Mojave, and much else besides…" he paused, letting his own threat sink in, was there no man in the Mojave or the Legion that _didn't_ want to bed her? "On that day, I will purchase that victory honestly, with blood."

"I'll be waiting, as will my army." Ella said as she let the infamous Legate go.

Boone came up beside her, "Why the hell did you let him go?" he asked her surprised.

"I could have killed him, yes, but I showed him that there is such a thing as mercy. Something his men might not show him when he returns as a failed commander. The legion will destroy itself with infighting, unless someone stronger than Lanius reveals himself, especially with Caesar out of the picture." She sighed. "I hope to hell it's not Vulpes."

She shouldered her weapon and turned back to the gates to the Legate's camp. General Lee Oliver was waiting for them.

"That was one hell of a fight there!" he laughed, I've never seen the legion piss their pants and run so fucking fast, I need a hundred of you, spread across the East." He smiled.

"That's great, General, but I don't think you're going to like what happens next." Ella said smoothly, noticing that Yes Man had transferred himself into a Securition and was waiting patiently with a large number of his compatriots.

General Oliver turned around. "Oh, uh, Hi there, smiley." He said, rather uncomfortably.

"General, I'm here to declare for New Vegas, It is, as of now, a free and independent state. The NCR has no claim over New Vegas of the Mojave, I am happy to negotiate terms with you for your withdrawal from New Vegas Territory, and you can certainly maintain your embassy here, we really don't mind, we do like to remain on good terms with our neighbours." She said sweetly.

"You fucking bitch, we have fought too long and too hard to back away now, how dare you push us away, you're not just shitting on me, you're shitting on the Bear. You're deluded if you think that we're going to lay down and take this." General Oliver snarled.

"General, I kinda outnumber you right now, I can order the Securitrons to remove you peacefully, or they can eradicate your forces quite easily, but considering the man I love used to be part of the NCR, and still has a heart in your cause, I'm inclined to allow you to leave peacefully." Ella said, staring down the General.

"Alright, you win, but we'll be back!"

"Yeah, and that day I'll be sorry, what you're going to make me your slave as well? Been there, done that, got no intentions of going back down that road at all." Ella snapped, "Get going or I'll ask 'Smiley' here to toss your sorry ass off the dam."

The General indicated for his troopers and rangers to leave,"We'll be back." He snarled again.

"Don't let the gate hit your ass on the way out!" Ella called cheerily. She watched as the NCR soldiers trooped out and off the Dam, escorted by Ella's Securitron army. Yes Man wheeled up to her,

"Everything is ready at the Fort, I have an escort of Securitrons waiting for you, This is going to be fun!" he beamed.

"We'll see." Ella said, a little shakily, Boone came up beside her,

"You're sure about this?" he asked her, gently placing a hand on her shoulder.

She nodded silently. "Yeah, I have to do this."

They walked up to the Fort, dead and dying Legionaries littering their path. Several piles of ash were spreading amongst the winds of the Mojave, and fires burned around them. Slaves cowered behind rubble, not understanding or realising that they were free yet. For some, freedom would be a strange and new thing, for others it would be a distant memory. The approached the group of tents that rose ominously above the Arena.

Ella took a deep breath and held a looted pistol in her hand, she went on guard immediately as she went through the door of the tent. four securitrons surrounded Caesar as he said upon his throne, the bodies of the Praetorian guard surrounding him.

"Come to get your revenge you ungrateful bitch?" the once 'great' Caesar snarled.

"Yeah, something like that." Ella said softly, she still feared him, and coming face to face with one of her tormentors was starting the shake her. Boone came up beside her and placed an arm on her shoulder.

"Oh, so you've found someone else to fuck, a pissant little NCR fucker." Caesar smirked. "Tell me, Soldier, does she scream when you fuck her? rake her nails down your back, or moan when you first slip it in?" he smirked, "You should know, that she loved it when I had her, every time she would beg me for more."

Ella took a deep breath and raised the pistol. She knew he was goading her. it shook in her hand

"You know," Caesar continued, "I was more than willing to let you live, Ella, you and I we could have had Vegas, you by my side as my concubine," He smiled softly, then scowled, "I'd make sure you were fucked by Vulpes every night after me.

Ella scowled, bearing her teeth, breathing harshly with the stress and anger she felt. She raised the pistol, shaking violently now and went to squeeze the trigger, but Boone beat her to it.

The shot rang out, taking Caesar in the forehead. His head snapped back, and his eyes rolled into the back of his head. He remained in his Throne as his heart beat its final beat and the Emperor of the Legion died at the hands of the Courier's Love.

"Thumbs down, you son-of-a-bitch." Boone intoned. He turned to Ella, who still held her pistol aimed at Caesar's corpse. Boone gently placed a hand on top of the gun and pushed her hand down. He took the weapon from her hand and held her while she trembled with shock.

"Ella, it's over." He soothed her, he turned her away from Caesar's corpse and they moved together out of the tents and away from the Fort.

They crossed over the Dam where the Brotherhood of Steel had arrived and were beginning to take over the administration of the facility along with the Securitron forces which would provide security, as part of an agreement that they had forged with Ella, they would look after the Dam, and the Helios One solar plant. They would also assist in the training of the New Vegas Military.

Vegas would soon become a jewel in the Mojave. NCR Sharecroppers were given the offer to remain and start a new life in Vegas, where they could produce as much food as they liked, with no quotas to worry about, there were soon great fields of food to feed the soon blossoming population of New Vegas.

The Followers of the Apocalypse had plenty to do, with the arrival of more settlers, they often found themselves overwhelmed, and Ella and Boone would arrive to help Arcade and Julie Farkas as much as they could with the needs of the new settlers. Many were looking for work, most were suitable for the new Vegas security forces, others were given work in rebuilding and reclaiming old buildings. Man damaged buildings were cleared with sledgehammers, the recycled brickwork reclaimed and reused in reclaimed buildings.

Months after their victory and the independence of New Vegas, Boone and Ella were married by the King, and soon, Ella was overjoyed to discover that she and Boone were expecting a child. Boone couldn't keep the smile from his face; he became very protective of Ella.

He had a second chance with a woman he loved, and a baby on the way, but he was also wary, they never found Vulpes, he didn't turn up in the piles of Legion bodies that they burned, nor did any searches provide proof that he lived. Ella still had a score to settle with the sly fox

Ella knew he was out there; the man was a master of disguise and spy craft. She would often look around suspiciously before she left the Lucky 38 for anyone who looked suspicious.

She walked the strip, well known and loved by the populace, her belly growing with their child, Boone often a constant companion by her side, and Rex walked with her on the other side. One man stood in the shadows and watched. Soon he would return to his new Lord, and soon that new Lord would suffer an 'accident', bringing him to the mantle of Lordship, Vulpes Inculta smiled softly, one day, he would have the Courier by his side, he'd had a taste of her, three times, and she was still intoxicating, even more so now she was with child.

He would succeed where Edward Sallow hadn't, he would be Caesar… and he would take the Dam, Vegas, the Mojave and have the Couri


End file.
